Look Beneath the Surface
by kate657
Summary: Nathan Scott and Haley James are bitter enemies at first sight but under all their hostility, there is a deep attraction mounting.
1. An Unfriendly Encounter

**Look Beneath the Surface**

**Background**:

Haley James and Nathan Scott met in eighth grade and hated each other (because they were so different)… at first. They slowly grew to become friends and then by ninth grade, they started dating. That lasted about five months until Nathan met Peyton Sawyer, the tortured artist, popular cheerleader. That's when things started to unravel for them. Nathan dumped Haley and started dating Peyton. Haley was devastated, of course. She began questioning her worth and had thoughts of suicide, but never acted on them. Instead, she slipped into a depression and when her parents finally noticed, they packed her things up and shipped her off to live with her aunt and uncle to finish the rest of high school.

**Characters include:** Nathan Scott, Haley James, Lucas Scott, Brooke Davis (will be introduced later on), Peyton Sawyer (will be introduced later on), Scott James (will be introduced later on) and Jake Jagielski for now.

**A/N 2**: So, that's the basic background information. This story will jump around quite a bit, to the distant past (background- first meeting and beginning of their relationship), to the more recent past (basically, when Haley re-enters Nathan's life after high school when they attend the same college in North Carolina) to the present. Both Haley and Nathan will be the narrators (separated by /) - mostly Nathan- telling their own points of view and all of that. All right, I tend to go off on a tangent when I write these things, so, enough from me, here's the first chapter:

**An Unfriendly Encounter: Cruel & Unusual Punishment** (Introduction/Chapter One)

/I am Nathan Scott, son of basketball legend, Tree Hill native, Dan Scott. My mother is Deb Scott and my half-brother is Lucas Scott. His mother's name is Karen Roe and his step father is our uncle, Keith Scott. We grew up together in a huge house that my aunt, uncle, and parents share. We're quite a dysfunctional family, I know, but we're a family nonetheless. I was popular all throughout middle school, while Lucas lived off my coattails and through high school. I am a professional basketball player now, but then, in eighth grade, I was just an immature jock and she could see that about me right away.

Some things aren't always clear to you when they first happen to you because you're usually caught up in the moment. But in retrospect, they could either mean nothing or everything. Like when I met her. At the time, I didn't pay much attention to her. I just thought she wasn't worth my time but later on, I would come to realize just how much she actually meant to me. Funny how things work out, isn't it/

"Hey, Nathan!" Lucas Scott shouted to his brother in class. Nathan practically jumped up in his seat. "I'm awake, Mrs. Cook. I'm awake… What?" Nathan said. He realized he had been sleeping on the bus, not in class. Lucas laughed at him. "What the heck was that about?" he asked. Nathan shook his head as he yawned and wiped the drool off of the corner of his mouth. "Nothing. What were you saying?" Nathan asked. Lucas rolled his eyes and then shook his head in amusement. "I was just reminding you that there's a new girl today," Lucas said.

Nathan looked at him. "Do you remember anything? Seriously, you've got the worst memory of anyone I've ever met. Mrs. Cook told us that we have a new student coming today and we're all supposed to make her feel welcome," Lucas said. Nathan thought long and hard and then he remembered when their teacher had kept them all before recess to tell them of the new girl that would be in their class the next day. Nathan nodded.

They were all sitting down in their seats. Nathan could already see Lucas holding hands with his steady girlfriend, Brooke Davis, under their desks as they sat beside one another. Mrs. Cook walked to the front of the class and a girl trailed behind her. The girl was petite. She had a few nice curves, and an approachable heir to her, but other than that, there was nothing special about her. She looked rather plain in his opinion. Nothing special about her, that's for sure.

Mrs. Cook smiled at the girl and showed her to her seat right next to him. Just great, he thought to himself. She sat down beside him and opened her bag and brought out a notebook and a pencil. "Everyone, this is Haley James," Mrs. Cook said. A few of the other kids in the class turned their heads and gave Haley a friendly smile. He could feel her shaking beside him. He thought she was going to jump out of her skin. "Nathan, I'd appreciate it if you showed her around today," Mrs. Cook said. On the inside, Nathan was grumbling. The last thing he wanted was for some girl to follow him around like a lost little puppy. On the outside he smiled and nodded. "Sure thing, Mrs. C," he said politely. Mrs. Cook nodded at him in approval.

He turned over to Haley who was unaware that she was being examined. She had her face pointed towards the front of the class as if she was actually listening and she was writing something down on the notebook, but her left arm was covering part of the page, so he couldn't see what she'd written. He knew she wasn't hiding it on purpose. It was probably just a habit of hers. He knew because if she were hiding it, she would be hunched over and covering it with more of her arm so if Nathan decided to lean forward, he wouldn't be able to see it. But she wasn't. If Nathan had the desire to, he could lean forward to see what the new girl was writing, but he didn't.

They continued with their history lesson and Haley even volunteered a few answers which made Mrs. Cook smile at her. She even asked Haley how far her other school had been in history and apparently, they were far ahead. Nathan didn't really care. He barely even listened to the conversation.

At recess, Nathan quickly left the room and grabbed his basketball and met up with his friends at the court outside the double doors leading to the school playground. He had meant to show Haley where her locker was, but he didn't know where she had gone. He had quickly forgotten all about her as he started playing the game. Then in the middle of the game, Skills grabbed the ball and threw it off court. "So what do y'all think about the new girl?" he asked, smiling as he noticed Nathan glaring at him.

They all shrugged. "She seems pretty harmless, if you ask me. She's not terrible looking either," Lucas said. They all looked at him in shock. "Don't let Brooke hear you say that," Nathan warned. Lucas shook his head. "I'm allowed to look. Besides, I'm not interested in Haley," he said. The others exchanged the same basic opinion of Haley: she seemed nice, sweet and rather harmless. She was cute, but nothing special. Nathan couldn't argue with all of that, but he didn't want to go with the flow. He liked to make waves and stand out from the crowd. "I think she's kind of lame," he said.

Lucas looked at him in shock. "What do you mean?" he asked. "Well, how do I put this nicely? She's a nerd. I saw her actually paying attention to Mrs. C and jotting down notes for class," Nathan said. "So she's a good student. That doesn't necessarily make her a nerd," Lucas said. "It doesn't make her one of us either," Nathan said. "Since when has there been a 'one of us'?" Skills asked. "Since this new geeky girl showed up," Nathan said. Then the bell rang. Nobody noticed when Haley came out from around the corner. She had been sitting down against the wall thinking the whole time until the basketball players had started talking about her. Now, she was mad.

/"What a jerk!" I thought at the time. I couldn't believe someone who seemed so nice could be such an ass. I'm the youngest of six children and I have five older brothers who used to pick on me when they were younger all of the time so I can take a certain amount of ridicule.

In a way, my brothers toughened me up. The only brother who actually treated me like an equal was the youngest of my older brothers, Scott James. He was a year ahead of me in school so when we moved to Tree Hill, I had to come to terms with the fact that I would be all alone in a new school, which was not something I was used to at the time. But I somehow managed to get through it. How, I couldn't tell you, but I did.

As an army brat (my dad is a lieutenant in the military), I was pretty much used to moving around and being the new girl. In grade seven alone, I had switched to three different schools. So being an outsider was a familiar role for me, but I always had Scott as a companion then, but now I had to learn to be alone and tough. When I think back on it, I think I did a pretty good job in eighth grade./

They all sat down and Haley came into the room last and plopped down in her seat next to Big Mouth. She couldn't remember his name at the moment. She paid attention to the math lesson and then started on the homework. About fifteen minutes later, Big Mouth tapped her on the shoulder. She turned her head to look at him questioningly. "What's the answer for number nine?" he asked. Haley chuckled at the irony of the situation. He had made fun of her for being smart and now he wanted her help. "I might be a nerd, but that doesn't mean I'm a helpful one," she said. He stiffened and looked at her in confusion.

His eyes seemed to be asking her if she heard the conversation. She nodded, signifying that she had. "Look, whatever you heard, you misunderstood," he said. Haley laughed. "How many ways can you misunderstand, 'She's a nerd'?" Haley shot back. She turned back to her work and ignored Big Mouth the rest of the day.

/And that's pretty much what our daily routine was. We clashed right from the start. We argued constantly and that really sucked because we were constantly thrown together on assignments the rest of the year. I resented her because she was smarter than I was and she resented me because I judged her before getting to know her.

At the time I thought I knew Haley James down to a tee. Turns out I was wrong…/

/So eighth grade hadn't turned out exactly the way I planned. But when high school came around, I became excited because I would once again be reunited with my brother at school and I was determined to turn things around. I wouldn't let people like Big Mouth get to me. I even thought I could avoid him all year. Boy, was I in for a surprise.../

Haley walked into her ninth grade math class and looked around. She noticed a seating plan on the overhead and looked for her name. She saw H.J. next to a N.S. and quickly sat down.

/High school at last! This would be the highlight of my life, I was sure of it. No more scowls from Haley James. I would be on the basketball team, get a good girlfriend, party and have some nerd do all my homework for me. But what I neglected to realize at the time was that I was in ninth grade, not in eighth grade anymore, so I would have to do my own homework. I didn't mind that too much. But at least I didn't have Haley James sitting next to me. Right? Wrong/

A few minutes later a familiar scent of cologne caught her attention. She looked to the person heading towards her and groaned inwardly when she realized it was Big Mouth Nathan Scott. She smiled when he rolled his eyes as he saw that she was in his class. Then, when she sat down beside him, Haley shook her head. "You've got to be kidding me. What, am I cursed or something?" she asked.

Nathan turned to her and rolled his eyes. "Not a whole semester next to you again," he said, echoing her disappointed tone.

A/N: So, I hope you liked the first chapter and I would love to know what you thought of it. If you have any questions or are confused about a part of the story (any part), just ask them in a review and I'll respond to them there or email me if you want. Updates for this story will be sporadic at best. I'll try to update as often as I can, though. Don't forget to review. I would love some feedback )


	2. An Unhappy Reunion

**An Unhappy Reunion **(Chapter two)

/ Haley James and Nathan Scott: together again. Argh! You have no idea how frustrating it was to be with a girl, who didn't think she was smart, but actually was. Really smart, actually. As I said before, Haley and I were mortal enemies in eighth grade and now we were in three of four of the same classes. Even our teachers knew that we hated each other by the second week. I was so glad at the end of the day that I had gym because not only did I get to play basketball, I knew I'd never run into her there. Call me crazy but when I think of Haley, I don't think of gym. I thought of the library and that's usually where she was, or so I heard. I had no idea what she was actually doing on her spare time until a teacher of ours took us aside. Oh, back then, I wanted to choke Mr. Henry…/

"Everyone may go except for Nathan and Haley," Mr. Henry, their biology teacher said. Haley and Nathan looked at each other. Haley had that look she got when she thought he had gotten himself into trouble and he rolled his eyes because she always judged him. But the thing was that she never actually said that it was what she thought. "Nathan, I'm sure I don't need to tell you that you need a 50 in order to pass this course," he said. It was the third month of school and Nathan was failing biology. Nathan shook his head. "You have below 30," he informed him and Haley.

He quickly turned his head to check to see the look on Haley's face. He expected to see her smiling at him mockingly or chuckling at the knowledge that he actually indeed was stupid. To his amazement, she wasn't. She actually looked concerned. "You need to get your grades up," Mr. Henry said. He turned his attention to Haley. "Which is where you come in, Ms. James," Mr. Henry said.

Haley looked at him inquisitively. "I need you to help Nathan get his grades up. You're the best student I have and you've got the highest grade. I'm sure you wouldn't mind helping one of the school's star athletes," he said. Haley shook her head. "No problem," she said softly. As Mr. Henry continued to talk to Nathan about his upcoming assignments, Haley was scribbling something down on a paper. When they were done, Haley handed him a small scrap of paper.

He looked at it and scrawled in neat handwriting was:

Meet me in the tutoring centre in fifteen minutes…

At first Nathan nodded but then he read the words "tutoring centre" and realized he had no idea what that was. Then he saw the three periods and turned the paper over. Sure enough there was more written on that side:

Room 232

He had to smile. She did think of everything, it seemed.

Fifteen minutes later, Nathan walked into 232 and was amazed that there actually was a tutoring centre. There were a few round tables scattered around. There was a big oak desk against one of the walls with cabinets and shelves built in the wall behind it. Haley stood at one of the walls organizing some papers. He looked around and noticed a bulletin board with two columns. The first one was tutors and the second was whether the tutors were there that day or not. There were only a few names, but at the top of the list, there was Haley's names with five stars next to it.

He looked down and saw that the stars were a rating system. One star equalled a satisfactory tutor, two was an average tutor, three was a good tutor, four was an excellent tutor and five was a dedicated tutor. For some reason, it seemed appropriate to him that Haley was a dedicated tutor. He walked over to her and tapped her on the shoulder. She turned around and nodded at him. "Just a sec," she said. A few seconds later, she turned around, picked up a binder and led him to one of the circular tables. She sat down and opened up the book. She started to explain the cell theory to him. "That doesn't make any sense," he said.

"What doesn't make any sense?" she asked. "The part where it says that all cells come from pre-existing cells," he said. Haley smirked and looked at him. "How does that not make sense?" she asked. "Well, think about it. What does it mean, that when a cell dies, a chunk of it comes off and forms a new cell?" he asked. Haley stopped to think for a second. "Well, yeah, basically. Before they die, cells go through cell division, like mitosis and binary fission which creates a new cell," Haley said. Nathan nodded.

Fifteen minutes later, Nathan was still arguing about another point of the theory. "Do you argue like this to avoid learning anything or do you do it just for the hell of it?" Haley demanded. "What's wrong with arguing about something that doesn't make sense?" he asked. "First of all, it does make sense; you just don't understand it yet. Second, you don't need to understand it yet, you just need to know the six points of the cell theory for Monday's quiz," Haley said. "I thought tutors were supposed to help you understand things," he said. "And I will, but not right now because, honestly, we both know that you're just doing this to avoid work and it's a waste of my time," she snapped.

About a half a second later, some guy from the team came up to them. Nathan was about to start talking to him, but he started talking to Haley. "Do you know that I passed the quiz today?" he asked. Haley turned to look at him and smiled widely. "That's awesome, Mark," she said. Mark turned to him and said: "I've had about ten different tutors. They either treated me like I was stupid or yelled at me because I didn't get it. But this girl actually took the time to explain things from me. She's got to be one of the most patient people I've met. And thanks to her, I'm actually passing all my courses," Mark said. Mark was known not to be very good in academics. Nathan smirked. "That's great," he said. Mark nodded and left. He turned back to Haley.

"So, do you want to name the six parts of the theory?" she asked. He looked down. He couldn't name them yet. Haley nodded. "Take a few minutes and go over it again. Try the memory thing. I'll be back in about five minutes. I have to call my brother," she said, getting up. Nathan smirked in amazement. He half expected her to jump down his throat for not working before, but like Mark said, she just gave him more time.

/First of all, I don't care about sports or athletes. I'm not the type of person to give them special treatment because they can win the 'big game'. They could win the Nobel Peace Prize and I wouldn't treat them any differently. So, why did I agree to help Nathan? Well it's simple, really. I'm a tutor and it's what I do. When someone is having trouble in school, I don't consider it funny or those to be pathetic just because they don't learn at the same pace I do. And I can't just sit by while others mock them to their face or worse, behind their backs. I have to take action. I've seen the way people in class look at Nathan when a paper or test is handed back. They see the failing mark and snicker and nod and point at him. It doesn't sit right with me. I know that Nathan is a smart guy. I think his attitude could use a little adjustment, but I know he's not stupid. It's time that he knew it too/

Two weeks later…

Nathan walked into the cafeteria and sat down with his friends Jake Jagielski, Tim Smith, Brooke Davis and his brother Lucas. "So, I saw you and that tutor in the learning lab. You two seemed pretty cozy," Tim said and laughed. Nathan rolled his eyes. "First of all, it's called the tutoring centre and second, I don't know what you're talking about," he said. "Oh, Nathan, you know very well what he meant. He thinks you and prude girl are into each other," Brooke said. Nathan burst out laughing. "I'd have to be a few kinds of desperate to look at her like that," Nathan said, "she is Haley James."

"So, you're not into her?" Lucas asked. Nathan shook his head. "Of course not. I don't even like her. She's just someone who's doing their part to make me shine," he said. Brooke looked at him in confusion. "So, she's no one to you?" she asked, smirking mischievously. "She's no one to me. She's not anything to anyone. She's just one of the little people that need some attention or she'll probably off herself," he said. Brooke laughed and looked behind him. Nathan turned around and sighed when he was confronted with the very hurt, very angry brown eyes of Haley James.

/Like I said before, I can take a certain amount of ridicule. Most of the things people say about me I don't even know about because I don't care. Someone could be talking about me on the bus or something and I wouldn't even know it unless someone else told me. But there are those few moments when I hear someone say something nasty about me and it is akin to someone taking a knife and plunging it deep into my back and for some reason, what Nathan said was one of those times./

Haley smirked and walked away. Nathan shook his head in frustration and got up, running after her. "Haley, wait," he said. She stopped and turned around. He could see that she was hurt and there were tears threatening to come out of her eyes. "You know, you're one hell of a guy. I bend over backwards to keep you from failing out of biology in ninth grade and how do you repay me? You slam me behind my back. I appreciate the gratitude," she said. "You were told to tutor me. It wasn't my idea," he said. Haley laughed.

"First of all, I agreed to tutor you. Even if Mr. Henry had ordered me to tutor you, I would not be tutoring you if I didn't want to. I'm not the type of person people can wrap around their fingers and I don't take orders from anyone least of all on your behalf," Haley said. "Okay, fine," he said. Haley narrowed her eyes at him. "Look, what I said was just a way of explaining to Tim that you're just a tutor to me. He was…" he said. Haley scoffed. "Give me a break. You were making it clear that you couldn't be interested in me because that's like the most insulting thing in the world. Congratulations, you just proved that we have no relationship, not even tutoring," she said. He looked at her in shock. "Oh, and don't worry. I'm not interested in you. You're not my type. I don't like jerks," she said, stalking away.

/There are few times in my life where I've actually felt like an idiot (not academically but socially and on a basic human level), but that was definitely one of them. Not only had I messed up my academic future, but I had managed to alienate the one person who actually cared about me. Haley was the one person who gave without ever expecting anything in return. She didn't tutor me because she wanted some acknowledgement or a favour, she helped me because she cared that I did well in school for me, not for her. She had absolutely nothing to gain. I had everything to gain and in one fell swoop, I managed to destroy that and our old routine came into place once again. I am such an idiot sometimes. It amazes me that I can actually outdo myself/


	3. The Growth of a Friendship

**The Growth of a Friendship** (Chapter Three)

**White Flag **(Part One)

/Some people think that in order to be a nice person, you must apologize for the wrongs you commit against other people. If you don't, you're considered arrogant or whatever. Honestly, I was one of those people who never apologized for the things I did (but still expected to be apologized to if I was wronged) and I didn't care. I was who I was and if someone had a problem with that, well, then it was just that: their problem and definitely not mine… until Haley.

I could act tough around her and pretend that I didn't care that I had hurt her feelings, but truthfully, I knew that I did. I can't explain why, but I just did. Maybe it was because she took a chance on me or she believed in me and not many people did. I don't know, but what I did know is that I had to make up for it. The problem is that Haley wouldn't even look at me, let alone actually speak to me, so I had no idea how. Any suggestions/

Nathan Scott walked out of his fourth period class and to his locker which was conveniently right outside the room. It was finally his lunch period and he was hungry. Lucas came over and tapped Nathan on the shoulder. "Hey, what's up, Luke?" Nathan asked. "Well, we're wondering if you wanted to shoot some hoops after we're done eating," Lucas said, referring to him and the rest of the team. Nathan nodded. Then Haley James walked out of the classroom. She smiled at random people and nodded at a few others as they said hello to her. She turned her head in his direction and when her gaze locked onto him, her smile disappeared and she frowned. The sparkle in her eyes faded and all that was left behind was a cold stare that pinned him and made him feel like a jerk because he could see the hurt hidden in her eyes.

Lucas whistled. "Wow, that is one angry girl," he commented. Nathan shook his head to bring himself back to reality and looked at him in pretend confusion. "What are you talking about?" he asked. Lucas smiled. "I know you and Haley have never really been on good terms, but I've never seen her look at anyone, even you, like that," he said. Nathan chuckled. "Well, let's just say that I'm special," he said. Lucas looked at him in confusion. "I was a jerk and Haley's not the type to let jerks off the hook," he explained. "Are you talking about when she overheard you insulting her?" Lucas asked. Nathan nodded. "Why don't you just apologize?" Lucas asked. Nathan rolled his eyes. "I know it's not in your nature to apologize to people, Nathan, but Haley did go out on a limb to help you and it seems that you really hurt her feelings," Lucas said.

Nathan remained unmoved. "Do you even care?" Lucas asked. Nathan sighed. "Of course I care. I didn't mean to insult her. She took what I said way too personally," Nathan said defensively. Lucas shook his head in amusement. "Nathan, you know damn well that there's no other way to take what you said. Come on. Just be the bigger person for once and apologize to her," Lucas said. "Why do you care if I apologize to her so much?" Nathan asked. "Because I don't like seeing other people in pain," Lucas offered and shrugged. Nathan shook his head in annoyance and walked away from his brother. He was about to walk to the cafeteria when he realized that Haley had headed in the opposite direction. Where had she gone? Then he figured she probably went to the tutoring centre.

So he walked into the tutoring centre. Sure enough, Haley was seated at a table reviewing some notes while eating her lunch. "Don't you ever get tired of eating alone?" he asked, announcing his presence. Her head snapped up and when she saw that it was him, she narrowed her eyes. "What do you want?" she demanded. He smirked. "I figured you could use some company," he said, coming over and sitting down. Haley laughed. "If you're what passes for company these days, I prefer my CD player," she said as she went back to eating her food. He smirked at her boldness. Then she stopped eating and looked at him.

"For all your talents, lying isn't one of them. What do you really want?" she said. "I came to apologize for what I said," he admitted, without missing a beat. Haley looked at him in disbelief. "Right," she said sarcastically and turned her attention away from him. He put his hand on hers. "I'm serious," he said. She looked down at his hand and then glared at him. He quickly moved his hand away. She looked at him, studying him.

/Guys are jerks. Doesn't matter who they are because in the end, they're all the same: a bunch of spineless jerks. Even my brothers can be jerks sometimes, but I love them in spite of that. I consider it biology for a guy to be a jerk just like I call it biology that a girl is overly sensitive. I hate that I'm able to get hurt so easily. Some idiot says a few mean things and I basically go off the deep end. But it is unusual when one of those jerks comes to apologize. I was so stunned at first that I wasn't sure how to react./

She had no idea if he was being sincere or not, but just on the off chance that he was, she nodded to him. "I'm listening," she said. He looked up at her in amazement but quickly recovered. "I didn't mean to insult you by saying that I could never have any interest in you. I didn't mean it that the way it sounded," he said. Haley laughed. "Then, what did you mean?" she asked.

"I wasn't saying that you're not desirable to other guys. I can say that you have good looks right now, just I, personally, am not interested in you like that," he said. Haley looked at him and nodded again. "I didn't think you'd take it so hard. I mean, we don't even really like each other, remember?" he said. Haley nodded. "Sometimes I can't stand you," she said, chuckling. He nodded. "And the same goes for me about you," he said in agreement.

"So…" he said hopefully. "You're forgiven," she said. He sighed with relief. She smirked at him and then went back to her eating. He still lingered there looking at her. She sighed and looked at him. "What?" she asked. "I was just wondering…" he said. "Tutoring after practice right here. If you're more than ten minutes late, I'm leaving," she said. He chuckled and nodded. "Sir, yes, sir," he joked. "I believe that would be 'Ma'am'," she said, "do you need help in English too?" She obviously meant it as a joke and he knew that, but Nathan's face changed distinctly. He was embarrassed. Catching the look on his face, Haley's smile dropped and studied him for a minute. "Do you?" she asked seriously.

He swallowed hard. "I guess you could say that I'm 'failing' that class too," he said. Haley nodded in understanding. "How many of your classes would you say you're failing?" she asked. He smirked. "All but one," he admitted. Haley smirked at his honesty. "Well, bring those textbooks with you," she suggested. He looked at her in confusion. "That is, if you want my help in those subjects," she added. He smirked and nodded.

/I was so caught of guard, when Haley offered to help me, it isn't even funny. I had learned that Haley was a generous person when she agreed to tutor me (a guy she hated) in biology, but even I underestimated her willingness to help people. I thought I had her worked out but I would quickly learn that I never knew her at all/

**The Things You Never Knew** (Part Two)

/Many people have this perception that my life is just so perfect because from what they saw, it was. But what no one realized was that they saw what I let them see. I'm honest but I'm not an open book. I'm good but I'm not without my flaws. I guess what I'm trying to say is that I'm far from perfect and my life is just as dysfunctional and unusual as everyone else's. If you think you've got me all figured out, you're wrong. People only think they know, but they don't. The truth is that they have no idea/

Three weeks later…

Haley quietly left her house in the morning and began the fifteen minute walk to her bus stop. When she got there, she was amazed to see that Nathan Scott was at the same bus stop. She slowed her pace and then stopped a few inches away from everyone else. She put her headphones in her ears and got lost in the music she was listening to. She had just bought the soundtrack to one of her favourite musicals: Into the Woods.

Nathan smirked in surprise when he saw Haley mouthing the words to whatever she was listening to. He walked over and tapped her on the shoulder. "This is your stop?" he asked when she pulled her headphones out of her ears. "Yeah," she replied. "What a coincidence," he said. "Yeah. It's kind of weird, though. It's like the middle of the semester and you haven't been here one day," she commented. "Well, that's because I usually get a ride in for morning practice," he said. "And today?" Haley asked. "Practice was cancelled. Coach muttered something about an appointment," he said. Haley nodded.

"Did you study for the quiz?" she asked when they were sitting on the bus. Haley was in the seat behind him and he turned around to continue to chat with her. Nathan's face went blank. "What quiz?" he asked in confusion. Haley glared at him. "We have a quiz in Biology," she reminded him. He shook his head. "Yes, we do. I gave you a three-page study package and…" she started but stopped when he started laughing. "You're making fun of me," she realized. He laughed harder. "Entirely possible," he said, softly chuckling now. Haley rolled her eyes in annoyance. "You can be such an ass sometimes," she said mockingly and then looked at him. They started laughing.

Nathan and Haley had become good friends now. They studied together a lot. Somehow it had worked out that Haley and Nathan would study at Haley's house after school instead of the tutoring centre. Haley led the way into her house and took her shoes off at the front door and hung her jacket on the coat rack that was always empty. She walked up the stairs and Nathan followed.

She headed into the living room and pushed the button on the answering machine. "Hey, Hales, it's Jack. I'm coming up next month to visit with you guys. Please tell mom and dad," her brother Jack said. "How did he know it'd be you who'd hear it?" Nathan asked, as he took some of his books out and put them on the kitchen table. "Because it usually is," Haley replied. There was a beep followed by another beep. "Haley, it's mom. I'm afraid our trip was postponed. We'll be in Prague for another month. Just wanted to let you know so you won't worry when we don't show up tomorrow. We know we don't have to worry about you. You are unlike all of our other children," her mother said. Haley rolled her eyes.

"Your parents out of town a lot?" he asked. Haley smirked. "Depends on what you mean by 'a lot'," she said, chuckling. Her tone of voice intrigued him. "How often are they gone?" he asked curiously. "Well, let's see," Haley said, "I believe I've seen them a total of five times in the past two years." "What do they do?" he asked. "Well, they're managers to a few bands and singers. They have their own record label, The JL, which stands for the James' Label. Unique, isn't it? So, they're on tour a lot with the bands and discovering new talent all the time," she said. He nodded. "That sounds exciting," he said. "What does?" Haley asked. "Being on your own all the time," he said. Haley nodded. "Does it ever get lonely?" he asked. "I'm pretty much used to it. It's been this way for a long time," she said. Her tone was full of emptiness not even a little bitterness. "You don't miss your parents at all?" he asked.

"Well, sure, but they're not really my parents," she said. He looked at her in shock. "That's horrible," he said in disgust. Haley chuckled. "I mean, I may not like my parents all the time, but I don't know what I'd do without them," he said. Haley laughed. "You misunderstand," she said. He looked at her in confusion. "Nathan, I lived at an orphanage until I was five," she admitted. He looked at her in disbelief. "That would mean that you're adopted, wouldn't it?" he asked. Haley nodded. His jaw dropped.

Haley laughed. "You didn't think that it was a coincidence that I was so different from my siblings did you?" she asked. He nodded. She smiled wide. "Well, it's not. The reason I act so different, the reason I look so different from the rest of my family is because genetically, we're not related," she explained.

She began to tell him a little more. She knew her biological mother had once lived in Tree Hill somewhere. Her mother had her when she was around twenty-two and given her up by leaving her in a basket in a hospital ER because her father had raped her mother and that's how she became pregnant with Haley. It didn't hurt her that she was abandoned or adopted. The years at the orphanage had been tough but in her opinion, she was stronger for it. She had been blessed when Lydia and Jimmy James had adopted her. She had had a different last name, but she didn't remember it. "Everything else is history," she said.

/So everyone is completely clueless. I had no idea that Haley had been adopted. She looked completely different from the rest of her family. They had blond hair and blue eyes and she had brown hair and brown eyes, but he had never connected the dots. According to Haley, no one else had either, not even the school staff and they had her files from the orphanage. It just amazes me that Haley has such a colourful past. I don't know why but I see her in a new light now. I like that she's not picture perfect. It makes her more realistic. At the time, I didn't think why that mattered. It never occurred to me that I had feelings for her/


	4. A Friendship Grows into Something More

**A Friendship Grows into Something More** (Chapter four)

/Around the middle of ninth grade, I realized that I had feelings for Haley other than friendship. I was crazy about her but I never acted on them because I didn't want to ruin what we had. Haley had confided in me. She had told me she was adopted, something she had never flat out told anyone before. That meant that she trusted me now and actually thought of me as one of her closest friends. But I couldn't deny that my feelings were overpowering my want to keep things ok with us. Man, was I in trouble. Big trouble./

Nathan slowly walked into the tutoring centre. Haley poked her head out of a book and smiled at him. He felt his heart skip a beat and smiled back. "Hey," he said. Haley made a face.

"Hmm. He speaks. His mouth opens and sounds come out. He didn't call all weekend, I figured his voice was gone," she said in a tone that suggested she was offended. He looked at her in confusion for a minute until she cracked a smile.

"You know, that's starting to get lame," he said as he sat down across from her. She put her book down and laughed at him.

"The look on your face is still amusing to me," she said, chuckling as she grabbed one of his notebooks and opened it to the last page. She frowned and looked at him. "Where's the math homework we were assigned on Friday?" she asked. He looked at her for a second.

"Whoops," he said, shrugging. Haley looked at him in annoyance.

"Nathan," she started, "you need to do your homework all the time. Not just when a test is coming up." She continued to flip through the book and found a page with some equations scrawled on it. She looked up at him and noticed that he was smiling mockingly at her.

"And your reaction to when you think I didn't do homework is still amusing to me," he said, trying to grab the notebook out of her hand but she anticipated this and whipped him on the head with it. She then put the notebook down in front of him and smiled as he glared at her. He couldn't help but smile back. She was too irresistible.

"So what'd you do all weekend that prevented you from picking up the phone?" she asked, starting to put things away in her bag.

"Played basketball at the river court with Skills, Tim and Luke," he said. She rolled her eyes.

"What else is new?" she commented. It seemed to her that he always played basketball at the river court when he wasn't playing in the gym or in school.

"Oh and what did you do, Miss Spontaneity?" he asked. Haley looked down. "Let me guess. You worked at the café, then you went home and did homework and when you were done that, you either read or studied," he said. Haley's eyes narrowed in annoyance. "See? I'm not the only one who's predictable," he said.

"Jerk," she said. He laughed at her childish remark. She started laughing too when she realized how ridiculous it sounded.

"So what do you say we both do something out of the ordinary and see a movie tonight?" he asked.

"Together?" she asked. He nodded.

"All right, but I get to pick it," she said. He shook his head.

"No way. You'd probably pick some chick flick and there's no way I'm going to get roped into seeing one of those," he said. Haley looked at him in annoyance.

"I don't watch that many chick flicks, Scott and there's no way I'm going to see some movie that a rapper stars in that's conveniently the story of his life," Haley said.

"How about Annapolis?" he asked.

"Hated it," she said. He looked at her in shock.

"Final Destination 3?" he suggested.

"Saw it," she said.

"The Family Stone?" he asked, seeing if she really didn't watch that many chick flicks.

"No way in hell," she said. He threw his hands up in the air.

"Then, why don't you suggest something?" he said.

"How about 'Underworld: Evolution'?" she said. He shook his head. "Why not?"

"I saw it already. It was good, but I don't want to pay to see it again," he said. Haley nodded.

"Date Movie?" She suggested. He looked at her in confusion.

"What's that about?" he asked.

"You know. It's like scary movie only it's making fun of chick flicks," Haley said.

"Sure," he said.

"You've got yourself a date," she said, chuckling and he laughed.

/Me and Nathan going to the movies together was a dream come true. I had started to develop feelings for him a while ago but I never acted on them because I didn't think he felt the same way. I love to look in his eyes; they're the most intense shade of blue I'd ever seen./

That night…

Haley opened her front door and smiled when Nathan was on the other side. "Hi," he said.

"Hey," she said. He looked her over and couldn't help but smirk. She was dressed in a simple blue t-shirt and navy blue flared jeans with three blue, white and pink flowers embroidered onto the pockets. Her brown hair was brushed through but fell just above her shoulders. She was gorgeous.

"You look great," he said. She smiled at him.

"So do you," she said.

"Let's go," he said and led her to the car. He opened the door for her and then closed it when she had her seatbelt on.

They walked into the theatre and sat down. Nathan put his arm around Haley and she leaned into him. Afterwards, Nathan drove Haley home. He parked outside her house. "I had a great time," he said.

"So did I. The movie was awesome," she said. He nodded in agreement. Haley grabbed her keys out of her purse and took her seatbelt off. She leaned over to him and pecked him on the cheek. "We should do it again sometime," she said. He exhaled and looked at her. Without thinking, he pulled her to him and kissed her on the lips gently at first but it grew more passionate. Haley put her arms around his neck.

"Yeah. We definitely should," Nathan said in agreement.

/ Nathan and I had a great time at the movie but I have to admit that my favourite part was after the movie. That kiss was amazing. I don't think I'd ever been kissed like that before. /

/Well, I'm not in trouble anymore. Haley and I talked for a long time after that and decided that our feelings for each other were mounting into something more than friendship especially after that kiss. We decided to start dating. Now I can call Haley my girlfriend./


	5. Fairytale Romances

**Fairytale Romances **(Chapter five)

Four months later…

/From the time I was in seventh grade and two of the most popular girls were fighting over me I knew I was pretty good looking to other females and I could basically have my pick of them. And I took advantage of that knowledge, dating almost every girl in the seventh grade and almost half of the grade eight girls. But my idea of dating and their idea of dating were two different things. The girls often thought it meant that we were going steady when really it was just a fun night out for me. It certainly didn't mean anything long term. After all, I was only fourteen at the time. Then when I hit ninth grade, I had started to want something different. I didn't want girlfriends, I wanted a girlfriend. After months of misunderstandings and arguing to the point where we wanted to kill each other, I had finally found her in Haley James.

My relationship with Haley had surprised a lot of people- my friends, the other girls, the teachers, and the people Haley tutored, but they slowly got used to the fact that I was now taken and apparently Haley had been labelled the "lucky girl" that had finally tamed Nathan Scott. It was a "fairytale romance", as corny as that sounds coming from a basketball player/

Haley plopped down at the cafeteria table with Lucas, Brooke, Tim, Skills and her boyfriend, Nathan. "Hey, you!" Nathan said putting his arm around her as he pulled her closer and planted a kiss on the top of her head. Haley smiled up at him. "Where have you been all day?"

"I was asked to help with the grade eights that were coming today. You know, tours, talking about my experience as a grade nine student, blah, blah, blah," she said, opening her lunch bag. Haley loved helping out the school, so Nathan could tell she was being sarcastic when she was complaining. She started eating her food quickly.

"Slow down before you choke on something," Lucas said which caused Haley to start laughing along with everyone else at the table.

"I have to eat quickly. I only have fifteen minutes before I have to get back," she replied after taking her first sip of her soda. When she was done eating, she turned to Nathan. "Can I talk to you for a minute?"

"Sure," he replied, getting up and following her to a vacant hallway.

"We're still on for tonight, right?" she asked. Nathan smiled.

"Of course. Tutoring and a movie. The perfect date, if you ask me," he said, chuckling. Haley rolled her eyes and leaned in to him. Their lips met and Nathan pulled her closer to him and put his arms around her back. Haley put her hand on his face and gently pulled away. Their faces were a few inches apart and she smiled at him.

"Good," she said and kissed him on the cheek. "I'll see you then."

Nathan came back and sat down at the table and paid attention to the other conversation. "I'm serious, Peyton! That's what he said," Brooke exclaimed. Peyton Sawyer was a new student at Tree Hill High. She had transferred at the beginning of second semester and she had become part of their inner circle almost immediately. Peyton ran a hair through her amazingly curly blond hair and smirked at her new best friend.

"I don't believe that he said that, Brooke. I think you're just playing one of your little games," she said. Brooke shook her head and turned to Lucas.

"You were there. Will you please tell her that I'm not lying?" she said. Knowing that it always crushed Lucas' resolve, she pouted. He smiled down at her and chuckled.

"She's not lying. The guy at THUD Magazine really did like the sketches that Brooke here submitted," Lucas said. Peyton looked at her in disbelief.

"You're the reason I got an offer for a comic strip?" she asked Brooke. Brooke looked at her innocently at first but then her broke out into a huge smile as she nodded. "Well, aside from the fact that you stole those sketches right out of my locker, I feel that I should thank you." Brooke shrugged.

"What are best friends for, P. Sawyer? You joined the cheerleading squad for me and so I submitted your sketches for you," Brooke said. Peyton smiled.

"You still could've asked for them instead of just helping yourself," she said, chuckling. Brooke shrugged.

"Congratulations on the comic strip, Peyton. That's really great," Nathan said. Peyton looked at him and their gazes locked for a few minutes. As if in a trance, they slowly smiled at each other.

"Thanks, Nathan," Peyton said, before ripping her eyes off of him and looking back to Brooke.

/Something's wrong here. I shouldn't be feeling this way about another girl. I care about Haley; I really do, but I can't deny the attraction I feel for Peyton. That stare lasted a few minutes but even now I can still feel the intensity of it. What am I going to do/

A month later…

/I should've known better. I really should have. My relationship with Nathan seemed too good to be true a lot of the time. At the beginning, I felt loved like I never had before. He pampered me and I'm not ashamed to admit that I enjoyed it. It appeared that he really liked being with me but they say that appearances can be deceiving. I guess I learned that the hard way. I didn't want to face what was going on right in front of me. The cancelled dates, the weird smell of perfume on his jacket when he hugged me but that letter was what finally woke me up and I realized that I had been duped.

But even then I chose to ignore it, thinking that Nathan would end his secret relationship with the girl that he was seeing behind my back. But instead, he ended our relationship and started dating Peyton. Well, for once it seems that the smart girl is really stupid./

Haley walked into her math class and sat down in her usual seat. She was glad that it was second semester which meant that she no longer had any classes with Nathan. Not even one. At the beginning of the semester she had hated it, but now she was thankful that her guidance counsellor seemed to have predicted that her relationship with Nathan would be short-lived. She opened her math book and began finishing up the last question that she had gotten stuck on that night. Now, the answer seemed so simple to her that she couldn't believe she had had trouble with it the night before. "Hey, Haley," Lucas Scott said as he came to sit down beside her. Haley looked up at him. Right away she recognized the concerned look on her face. People had been shooting them her way for the past month.

"Hi," she said flatly. "I don't remember seeing you here before."

"I just got transferred into this course. Apparently, applied math is not challenging enough for me. I'm cursed with a mother who actually reads teacher's course recommendations on the mid-term report cards," he said, as he sat down and took his binder and text book. Haley didn't even crack a smile at his joke. He knew they weren't very close friends, but he had gotten the impression that they were friends. "Is this stuff really hard?" he asked, hoping to break the ice by appealing to the tutor in her. Big mistake.

"Not for someone who has brains. If you're in this course, you must have them, so, I can't imagine why it would be difficult," she said, putting her pencil down. It didn't take a rocket scientist to realize that Haley had figured out why he was even talking to her hence her little jab. The truth was that he and a few others were getting worried about her. She had all but quit coming to eat lunch with them and that was completely understandable. He couldn't think of a sane person that would want to sit at a table across from your ex-boyfriend and his new girlfriend, but all she did was walk the halls alone, go to classes and do homework and tutoring. Lucas couldn't think of a single person she now called her friend, especially when her brother Scott had left to go on a trip with their parents for a few months so he missed the whole story with Nathan and Haley. But now he was back just that day.

"Well, I hope I can make it through this course," he said. He smirked as Haley turned her head away to hide the fact that she was now rolling her eyes at him.

"Ok, class. Today is going to be a review period for the test tomorrow. Lucas, you're excused from that test, of course, but I would still like you to get the work done. If you have trouble, just ask Haley for help. She's a math whiz," the teacher said. Lucas nodded and then turned to see Haley glaring at the teacher.

"Scott, you're being ridiculous," Haley said to her older brother. Scott James looked at his little sister in sympathy. He had taken her books from her and threatened to rip her homework apart if she didn't come to the cafeteria to eat lunch with him.

"Look, Haley, it's not as if the whole loner thing doesn't work for you, because it really does, it's just that I'm worried about you," Scott said.

"I'm fine," she said looking at him in annoyance.

"Haley, in your letters to me, you were always very happy. You mentioned that you had started eating lunch with people and had fun. Then a few months ago, your letters stopped and I come back to find that you've reverted into a very lonely person," he said. Haley shook her head in annoyance and glared at him.

"It was a lapse in judgement. Nothing more," she said, taking her books back from him and putting them in her bag. She sat down and kept her bag out of his reach.

"Haley, I know what's happened," he said. Haley looked up at him in surprise. There was fear in her eyes, something he was not used to seeing in Haley. "I know about Nathan," he confirmed. She smirked at him bitterly.

"Like I said: a lapse in judgement," she said. He looked at her sympathetically. "Don't look at me like that. I know that you're my big brother so it's in your nature to be concerned about me and I appreciate it, but it's not necessary."

"It's ok to be hurt, Haley," he said. She shrugged and nodded to signal that she knew that. "But shutting people out is not the answer."

"I'm not shutting people out. I'm still talking to you, aren't I?" she asked, smirking at his glare.

"When was the last time you talked to Nathan?" he asked, folding his arms across his chest in a know-it-all way. Haley took a step back and when she looked back up at him, Scott instantly regretted asking the question. Haley's face had crumpled.

"If your girlfriend cheated on you and then dumped you and started dating that person right away, would you ever feel the need to talk to her again?" she asked as the tears streamed out of her eyes. He pulled her close to him and hugged her.

"It's ok. I'm sorry," he said, stroking his little sister's hair.

"I can't," she choked out. He pulled away and looked at her.

"You can't what?" he asked.

"I can't face Nathan ever again," she replied. That was when Scott realized how bad his sister was really doing.

A month later…

Nathan sat down with his girlfriend Peyton Sawyer at the cafeteria table where Brooke, Tim and Skills already were. "So, I finished my strip today. Do you want to see it?" Peyton asked. He smirked.

"Of course. I love seeing your sketches," he said, taking the sketch pad from her and looked this week's comic strip over. Her talent still shocked him. "It's amazing," he said. Peyton smiled and leaned in and kissed him long and hard. When the kiss ended, Nathan noticed his brother was sitting down and looked a little rattled. "Luke, are you ok?" Lucas jumped to life and looked at Nathan carefully.

"I'm fine. Why?" he said. Nathan shrugged.

"You seem a little preoccupied," Peyton said. Lucas shrugged and turned away.

"All right, Lucas. What's going on?" Brooke asked sternly. She could clearly tell something was bother Lucas and knew that he was avoiding telling them.

"I don't think you'll want to hear about it," Lucas said to Nathan. Nathan looked at him in confusion.

"Just tell us," Brooke ordered.

"I'm worried about Haley," he admitted. Nathan stiffened at the name.

"Why would you be worried about her?" Brooke asked.

"Well, she hasn't been in class in over three weeks," he said. Then he turned to Nathan. Nathan had known for a while that Lucas had the same math class with Haley. "That's not like her, is it?" Nathan shook his head.

"No, it's not," he said, shaking his head trying hard to shake the feeling of concern coming over him. A few minutes later, Lucas spotted Scott James and called him over.

"What's up, Lucas?" he asked. His tone was friendly enough but whenever he looked in Nathan or Peyton's direction, his eyes seemed to be on fire.

"I don't know if Haley told you but she and I are in the same math class," Lucas said. Scott nodded, signalling that Haley had told him. "Well, she hasn't been in class for a few weeks now." Scott smirked.

"You mean the teacher hasn't told you?" Scott asked. Lucas and Nathan looked at him in confusion.

"What?" Lucas asked.

"Haley's not going to be in your class ever again," Scott said. Lucas looked at him in confusion. "Haley moved away. She no longer goes to this school."

"Where is she?" Lucas and Nathan both asked.

"She lives with our aunt and uncle in Tennessee," Scott replied. "She's gone and I don't think she's ever coming back to Tree Hill."

/ Haley is gone. Even now, it's a little hard to digest. To be honest, I hadn't thought of Haley in a long time. I obviously knew she was still around the school since she had a class with Lucas and she was even helping him a little in that class. But other than the occasional comment from Lucas, she had never crossed my mind. The news that she had moved away not only shocked me, but it confused me. I didn't understand why Haley had moved away without even saying goodbye. Okay, I get why she never said goodbye to me. But what about Lucas? From what I knew they were friends in a way. Then there were rumours circulating that the reason Haley had left was because she was depressed and she couldn't stand the sting of losing Nathan to Peyton. At the time I didn't know if there was any truth to the rumours, but later on, her brother "kindly" pointed out that it was my fault. When I broke up with her, I honestly thought that she would get over it. I didn't know she would slip into a depression. I cared about her; I really did. She was my first real girlfriend and she taught me a lot. I never wanted to hurt her. Not only had I destroyed her, I had literally driven her away./


	6. Look at How the Mighty Have Fallen

**Look at How the Mighty Have Fallen **(Chapter six)

/It's dawning on me that senior year is half over. It's very weird to think that pretty soon I'll be off to university. University is what my parents say, but college is more likely with my grades. So much had happened during high school, I was almost afraid to leave. In ninth grade alone, I had said goodbye to my first serious girlfriend, a person who had took a major chance on me and I had crushed her in return and hello to my second girlfriend, Peyton Sawyer who I was with during and right after my first girlfriend. My relationship with Peyton seems to be more of convenience now. I cared about her, yeah, but I was more interested in basketball than I was her to tell you the truth and that's not the way it should be. The same can be said for Peyton, though. She was more into her art and cheerleading if you can believe that, than me. My ego couldn't stand it sometimes so I ended up being a jerk again. I cheated on her and she cheated on me, both hoping to illicit a response from the other but it never worked. Little did I know that the universe had decided to teach me a lesson/

Nathan stood at his locker with his brother, Lucas and best friend, Tim Smith. They were chatting about the fact that senior year was almost over. "It's so close, I can almost taste it," Tim Smith said. Nathan and Lucas both looked at him in amusement. It was a classic Tim thing to say: ridiculous and hilarious.

"So, what are you and Peyton going to that dance on Friday?" Lucas asked. Nathan nodded.

"I'm a jock and she's a cheerleader and we're dating. It's kind of expected, isn't it?" Nathan asked. Lucas shook his head.

"I guess you could put it like that. But some people would say you're going because you enjoy spending time with your girlfriend," Lucas said. Nathan shrugged.

"Come on, Lucas. You know very well that Tree Hill High's super couple is always happy to be with each other," Brooke said, coming up to them with Peyton trailing behind her. She walked over to Nathan and took his hand. He kissed her hello and put his arm around her like he always did and then turned his attention back to the rest of them.

"Well, I know I'm happy to see my girlfriend," Lucas said, kissing Brooke. After it ended, they seemed to be in their own little world and Peyton was envious of what her friend had with her boyfriend. You'd think that since they were brothers, Lucas and Nathan would be a little alike in how they treated their girlfriends but it was not true. In the beginning, Nathan had been sweet and loving even when they were sneaking behind that girl's back, but like the girl, that had slowly disappeared.

"I heard there's a new student," Tim announced. Nathan and every one else looked at him.

"Tim, Jake is hardly a new student. He's been here for half the year," he told his friend. Tim shook his head.

"No, there's another transfer student coming today," Tim said. They all looked at him in surprise and then started to talk about who the student could possibly be, not even noticing that the "new" student was across the hall from them walking up to Jake Jagielski's locker.

"Well, well, well. You are still alive," Haley said to the guy. Jake's eyes widened at the familiarity of the voice. He turned around to see Haley James' smiling face.

"What are you doing here?" he asked, laughing. She went on as if she hadn't even heard him.

"I transferred here. I just had to check up on you," she said, smiling. He looked at her in disbelief and then confusion. She laughed. "You never wrote or called. You could give a girl a bad feeling, Jagielski." Jake bent down and hugged Haley.

"I've missed you, Hales. So, you're seriously coming here?" he asked. Haley nodded, showing him her new student ID card. It was vastly different from her ninth grade one. Her face had narrowed a little more and her eyes had gotten bigger and the brown in them had gotten darker. Her dark brown hair was lighter now and had blond highlights. Her sister had called the shade dirty blond. "Don't get me wrong. It's great to have an ally here. But why?" he asked. Haley frowned.

"My dad had a heart attack, Jake. I took the opportunity to come back home," she said, explaining that she had been wanting to come back for a long time.

"You were happy in Athens, weren't you? I thought you hated it here," he said. Haley nodded.

"I did back then, but I'm not the same person I was back then or when I first came to Athens High," Haley said. Jake nodded. He had to admit that that was the truth. When she had first showed up as a new student, people had questioned her stability. She seemed very depressed and it seemed like she went out of her way to segregate herself from the rest of the other students.

/I was a little nervous about returning to Tree Hill High at first. I didn't know what to expect from the other students, but in all honesty, it's amazing to see how little and how much things have changed. Sometimes it seemed like the entire school had been stuck in limbo while I was gone. I changed into a completely different person from who I was back then. At least that's what Scott said. I loved the reactions of the other students that I used to go to school with. They all knew I was a new student but they had no idea that I was actually a "returning student" is the term I guess you would use. I'm not usually the type to care what other people thought about me or their opinion or reactions at all. I had changed and developed a new philosophy: I am who I am and if other's didn't like, that's tough because there wasn't a damn thing they could do to change it. But I loved the look of shock when they found out who I really was. One student said that I was unrecognizable./

It was lunch time and Jake had made Haley promise to eat lunch with him and his friends. He led her into the cafeteria and sat down at a table Haley recognized immediately. It was the table that Nathan had sat at in grade nine, but was it still his group's table? When Lucas and Brooke came and sat down beside them, she had her answer. "Hi, Lucas," Haley said. Lucas turned to her in confusion.

"Do I know you?" he asked. Haley smiled as she realized he had no idea who she was but couldn't deny that she was familiar to him. Haley turned to Jake and her smile widened.

"You must be the new student," Brooke said. Haley and Jake burst out laughing.

"I did just transfer but I'm hardly new," Haley replied.

"Ok, I'm confused," Brooke said, which didn't really surprise Haley. Brooke wasn't exactly known for her intelligence.

"She used to come here in ninth grade but left near the end of the year," Jake said, giving them a hint. Lucas' eyes narrowed. He was trying to place her.

"I'm sorry. I don't know who you are," Lucas said. Haley laughed.

"I don't look that different, do I? Come on, Luke. Think of ninth grade math class. We sat next together," she said. His eyes widened in recognition.

"No freaking way. Haley?" he asked. She nodded and he and Brooke exchanged looks of shock. "What the heck are you doing back here?" Haley scoffed but then explained why she had returned.

"I can't get over how different you look," Brooke said, looking Haley over. Haley frowned and observed her clothes. She was wearing a black t-shirt and blue flared jeans. Haley hadn't really realized that her wardrobe had changed. Then Brooke shook her head. "I'm talking about your hair," Brooke added. Haley looked at a strand of her hair and laughed.

"Oh," she said, still laughing. "My sister dyed it for me a few years ago." Then, Peyton Sawyer sat down at the table and looked around the table. Nathan followed behind her. He sat down beside her and put his arm around her. Haley watched in detached amusement that they were still together and she could tell that neither one was happy just by looking at their body language. Nathan's eyes rested on her.

"Haley?" he asked. Haley turned from her conversation with Jake when she heard her name. When their eyes met, hers narrowed into slits. He could feel that she had changed on the inside as well as on the outside.

"Nathan," Haley said, repeating his name mockingly. She got up and walked away from the table, waving goodbye to Jake. He had heard rumblings about the fact that the new girl was actually an old student and that caught his interest. But never in a million years did he think that Haley James would re-enter his life. She now had an almost confident heir about her that had not been there the last time he'd spoken her which was when he had broken up with her.

"She's back?" he asked, looking to everyone else. They nodded. "Why?"

"Her father had a heart attack, Nathan. Haley came back because she was homesick," Jake explained.

"How is it that you know her so well?" Brooke asked, referring to their sudden friendliness. Jake smirked.

"Haley's my best friend from my old school. You know, the one I told you about," he said. They all looked at him in shock. Jake had described his old friend as someone completely different from who Nathan knew Haley to be. He described her as a sometimes sarcastic girl. She had been known well throughout the school because she set up a learning lab there and was one of the leading tutors. Okay, that sounded like Haley, but the getting along with the popular kids, having a lot of friends, being outgoing as well as daring did not.

/So it was interesting for me to see Nathan unhappy with Peyton. Don't get me wrong, I don't like that he's unhappy. I still care about him, of course, but that doesn't mean I've forgotten what he put me through. Seeing him like that brought it all back and I was overcome with the memories of our past. But what bothers me is that its really obvious that he and Peyton are not happy together. And if it's obvious to me, as a person who's not really fond of either one of them and as a person who's been away for about three and a half years, it must be blatant to everyone else. Why would Nathan stay with her if he's unhappy? I wondered that for a few seconds until he opened his mouth and said my name. What I neglected to question is why I cared/

A week later…

Peyton woke up and sat in up in Nathan's bedroom. She heard the shower running and realized where he was. She got up and changed into clothes she brought over. She found a blank piece of lined paper and looked around for a pencil. She couldn't find one. She opened the drawer and found a pencil. She picked it up but her hand brushed against something. She looked down and realized it was a photograph. It seemed weird to find a picture in Nathan's drawer so she picked it up and sat back at what she saw. It was a picture of him and Haley. They were holding one another. She turned it over and sighed at what Nathan had written:

"Haley and I at our three month anniversary dinner." She sighed as she realized something that had haunted her ever since Haley had come back. Nathan was not over her. He had kept this picture in his top drawer and probably sneaked looks at it whenever he could. Not many realized it, but Peyton was deeply threatened by Haley. Though, she had won the battle and Nathan had chosen over her, she knew that he really did love Haley and now knew for sure that he still did, Haley had been Nathan's girlfriend first and she had had a profound effect on him because she "believed in him" as Lucas had said. That was something Peyton could never compete with. She cared about Nathan still, but she had never believed in him like Haley had. Now it dawned on her how much it had probably hurt Haley to learn that Nathan and she were dating behind her back.

"Peyton, are you awake?" he asked, coming into the room. He studied her. "What's wrong?" Peyton shook her head.

"What happened with us, Nathan?" she asked sadly. She handed him the picture and the love that flashed across his face was all the proof Peyton needed now. He looked back up at her.

"That's what this is about? Haley?" he asked. She looked up at him sadly and nodded.

"Clearly you still have feelings for her," she said. He shook his head.

"Peyton, she means nothing," he said unconvincingly. Peyton scoffed and looked at him in disbelief.

"Okay, if that's the case, then, you're an ass. And even if I believed you when you say that, you're still an ass. And what's really sad is that you're too stupid to realize that she was the best thing you had. So, thanks for being such an amazing asshole. You're making this so much easier," Peyton said. He looked at her in confusion. "We're through."

"Peyton, come on," he said.

"I mean it, we're done," she repeated, getting up and leaving.

/So that's when my girlfriend of three years dumped me. It's funny; you'd think I'd be upset about it, but I wasn't. Yeah, my ego was bruised but only because a girl had dumped me not because Peyton had dumped me. It was strangely liberating because now I was free to get the girl of my dreams back. An even funnier thing about that is that it was easier said than done/


	7. Forgive & Forget

**Forgive & Forget **(Chapter seven)

/So when I moved back to Tree Hill, I slowly started to realize how much I missed it there. At the beginning, I was homesick, yeah, but mainly for my family not school. There was no way in a million years I'd ever regret leaving Tree Hill High when I did. I was miserable there, but not anymore. When I walked into that building, I look at it in a new light as well as almost everything else. Like my past couldn't upset me because I had grown up so much. And in a way, I was right. The girls who gave me snotty looks or people who pointed at me when they thought I wasn't looking saying, "There goes the girl who fell apart after Nathan dumped her for Peyton," didn't really bother me. Sure I hated being the subject of gossip because they usually forgot that Nathan had cheated on me with Peyton and then dumped me. That's why I had been so upset. But was I on the verge of another bout with depression? Hardly. But was I ready to forgive and forget? Not a chance in hell. Just because I had moved passed it doesn't mean it still didn't make me angry every time I saw Nathan or Peyton. Even if they had broken up./

Haley James walked into the school on Monday morning in late March. She headed towards the tutoring centre and sighed when she saw Peyton sitting at one of the tables. Haley's first instinct was to tell her to finally put the bimbo in her place and she would have if it weren't for the sad look on Peyton's face. So Haley decided to just go about her business and leave Peyton alone. She was perfectly content with not speaking to her and let her wallow in whatever qualified as problems in her life because in all honesty, Haley knew she didn't know Peyton that well.

She brushed past Peyton on her way to the desk that Haley usually worked at since she had set the tutoring centre up again. Apparently, the teachers had trouble keeping it afloat without her there. None of the other tutors were as dedicated as she had been so when she had left, so did they. Haley thought it had more to do with the teachers' own laziness but, hey, that was just her opinion. And that's when Peyton opened her mouth and asked a question that almost made Haley laugh. "Haley, can I talk to you for a minute?" Peyton asked. Haley turned around and looked at her in surprise.

"Does it have something to do with courses?" Haley asked. Peyton looked at her in confusion and Haley gestured to the sign on the door, labelling this room the tutoring centre and Peyton smirked and shook her head.

"No, I'm doing fine in all of my classes. I've never had trouble. I'm pretty smart," Peyton said. Haley nodded.

"Well, then, what are you doing here?" Haley asked.

"I think we need to talk," Peyton said.

"Really?" Haley asked. "What on earth could we possibly talk about?" Peyton looked at her sympathetically and then said the one name that could infuriate Haley more than anything.

"Nathan," she replied. Though her blood was boiling, Haley kept her cool as she looked at Peyton expectantly. "We broke up."

"I heard," she said. Peyton looked at her in surprise.

"Well, we have," Peyton said.

"So?" Haley asked, shrugging.

"I thought you'd want to know. Or that you should know," Peyton said. Haley laughed.

"That's the craziest thing I've ever heard," Haley said.

"What?" Peyton asked.

"Well, why on earth would I want to know? And why do you think I should?" Haley asked.

"I don't know. I guess, considering the way Nathan and I started…" Peyton said. Haley stiffened. She turned around and glared at Peyton. Her eyes were burning with molten anger.

"You thought what? That I would want to know that the pain you caused me was really all for nothing since your relationship with Nathan didn't last?" Haley asked.

"I didn't mean it like that," Peyton said.

"Or did you come here to twist the knife that stuck in my back in grade nine? Maybe you thought that because you dumped Nathan and he didn't dump you, you're still one up on me or something," Haley asked.

"Ok, obviously, coming here was a big mistake," Peyton said.

"Gee, you think?" Haley shot back.

"Look, Haley, I'm sorry. I didn't mean to open up old wounds. I just thought you might want to know that Nathan's free now and I don't care if you get with him," Peyton said. Haley burst out laughing.

"You know for someone who claims to be smart, you act pretty stupid," Haley said.

"I don't get why you're being like this," Peyton said.

"Look, if you think that you owe me some sort of an apology, you're wrong. I'm fine now. If you and Nathan have broken up, I couldn't care less," Haley said. Peyton looked at her in surprise. "For instance, if either one of you are happy, I don't care. Even if you're not, I still don't care because you two threw away whatever good thoughts I had of you when you decided to date each other behind my back. And it's got nothing to do with the fact that my heart was broken by my boyfriend. It's got to do with the fact that I was betrayed by two people I thought I could trust. Do you get it now?" Peyton nodded and left.

"So the two of you really broke up?" Brooke asked.

"Brooke, it's been over four weeks. Of course we did," Peyton said.

"Then, why hasn't Nathan been seen with anyone else?" Brooke asked.

"Maybe he doesn't want to be with someone right now," Peyton said, shrugging. She didn't really care but she knew she had to talk about it since she was Nathan's ex-girlfriend.

"Or maybe he's not over you," Brooke said.

"Or he wants someone else," Peyton said. Brooke looked at her in confusion. "The one that got away," she added. Brooke still looked at her in confusion. "Never mind."

"What about you, Peyton? Any one new on your radar?" Brooke asked.

"Well, now that you mention it, I do happen to have a date," Peyton replied. Brooke looked at her in shock.

"That was quick," Lucas commented. Peyton ignored him.

"Who?" Brooke asked excitedly.

"I don't know if I should tell you," Peyton said. Brooke looked at her in offence.

"Why?" Brooke asked.

"Maybe she doesn't want the whole world to know," Haley replied, sitting down at the table. Though they had had their fare share of confrontations, Peyton and Haley had decided to bury the hatchet and attempt to become friends. So far it was working.

"I can keep a secret, Peyton. Please tell me," Brooke whined.

"Why do you want to know?" Peyton asked.

"I want to support my best friend," Brooke replied.

"You don't need to know who she's dating to support her," Haley pointed out.

"Butt out, tutor girl," Brooke snapped which sent Haley into a fit of hysterics.

"Well, I already know who it is," Haley said. Peyton smirked as Brooke turned around and looked at Haley.

"You told her before you told me?" Brooke asked. Peyton shook her head.

"Peyton didn't tell me. He did," Haley said. Peyton looked at her in surprise.

"He did?" she asked. Haley nodded.

"Jake tells me everything," Haley said.

"So you know he has a daughter?" Peyton asked.

"Of course. Whenever we hung out, Jenny was with her. Jake and I used to work at a diner in Athens and the owner, like Karen, let him bring Jenny in and he did. She would be lying in the crib some of the time, and when he went on deliveries, yours truly would watch the little darling," Haley said, smirking at the memories.

"Have you and he ever…?" Peyton asked, but stopped because she thought she might be taking this friendship thing too far, but Haley just stared at her in confusion.

"What?" she asked. Brooke leaned over and smirked at Haley.

"I think she's asking if you and Jake were ever more than just the best of pals that you are now," Brooke said. Peyton's cheeks reddened in embarrassment. Haley scoffed.

"That's a good one," she said as she went into yet another fit of hysterics. Jake came over and looked at Haley in confusion.

"Ok. What started this one?" he asked, shaking his head in amusement at Haley. Haley finally calmed down and looked to Peyton who's face was turning more crimson by the second.

"Oh, it was nothing. I was just telling one of my klutz things and Peyton said that she never met anyone who was such as big as a klutz as I was. So I preceded to prove that what I told her was barely skimming the surface," Haley said.

"What did you tell her?" Jake asked.

"I told her about the time that I went ice skating on a lake. I neglected to realize that the ice was thin and breaking so I fell through the ice," Haley said. Jake burst out laughing.

"I remember that! Didn't you have to go the ER?" he asked. Haley nodded.

"I got pneumonia," Haley said. Peyton started laughing at her.

"Oh, my God, Haley!" Lucas exclaimed. Haley shrugged.

"It was fun. I got a ride in the ambulance and my parents actually came home from Paris to see little old me," she said. Jake sighed. He knew that there was a lot of strain with Haley and her parents nowadays since even after her father's heart attack, they still insisted on going on their trips and so once again, Haley was left alone at home.

Two months later…

/So Haley and I had been doing a little dance around each other ever since she came back. When I came to the lunch table, Haley would have to conveniently leave and if I came into the tutoring centre to meet with my tutor, she would start working on something and be in and out of the room all the time, so I never got a chance to talk to her. But the thing was that I wanted to talk to her. I sensed she was going through a rough time, but I didn't know what was wrong. The truth was that I really missed her. Even if it was just chatting with her or her tutoring strategies. My new tutor was an ass. He would flip on me if I didn't understand something and my grades were dropping because of him beating my self-confidence out of me. So I was failing out of grade twelve and doomed to repeat it over. Or I would have if Haley hadn't stepped in that day/

Haley came back after missing two weeks of school. Things seemed a little different walking down the halls. It almost seemed as if the whole school knew that Haley was now without a parent for real this time. Her face crumpled at the realization. She shook her head trying to block out the memory of the phone call she had received from Scott telling her to get on a plane and come to Montreal right away. Montreal was their mother's hometown and her parents had flown there for a vacation instead of a business trip. But the plane had experienced a malfunction and crashed into the runway. No survivors including her parents. So she had gone down to Montreal to bury her parents in her mother's family's mausoleum. Some people who bothered to read the newspaper knew that her parents were now dead and she was at home alone, which wasn't really a change but now there was no chance that her parents would come to home and surprise her because they were on a "permanent vacation" as her mother had called it when she was younger. Haley had left her brother in Montreal and he promised that he and the others would deal with the estate. Haley had promised to pitch in whenever she could but they had insisted that she get back to school and so she had.

Haley walked into the tutoring centre and froze in place when she saw Nathan's tutor, Sam glaring at him. "Seriously, Scott, it seems impossible that someone could be as stupid as you," he said. Nathan looked away from him. "Did your mom help you on those equations?"

"No, I did them myself," Nathan said.

"Well, good. That means your mom's not stupid just like her son is," Sam said.

"Give me a break, Sam. I'm trying," he said.

"Not hard enough," Sam snapped. He went on to talk about all of his bad test scores and Nathan looked really embarrassed as the other students were staring at him. Haley felt her heart catch in her throat because she could tell that Sam was doing a good job of hurting Nathan. She walked over and glared down at Sam.

"What the hell are you doing?" she demanded of him. He looked at her in confusion. "You're his tutor; you're supposed to be helping him with his grades, not berating him in public because he needs a tutor."

"Haley, please, mind your own business," Sam said.

"No. Explain to me how this method is supposed to get his grades up. Seems to me that the only thing it's doing is going to get you punched in the face," Haley said.

"I work with my own style," Sam said through gritted teeth.

"Not in my tutoring centre," she said, shaking her head. She had single-handedly rebuild the tutoring centre and she was managing it. There was no staff support whatsoever. All of the hard work to keep it running was Haley's and she wasn't about to let Sam ruin all of it. Sam shrugged.

"Then, I quit. Good luck passing all of your classes now, Scott," Sam said.

"He'll do fine," Haley said. Sam chuckled at the thought. "He's been reassigned to a new tutor as of this moment."

"And who might that be?" Sam asked, doubtful that anyone could help Nathan now.

"Me," Haley said, looking at him warningly. Sam shrugged and walked away.

"Are you serious?" Nathan asked. Haley's face hardened a bit at him as she nodded. "Why would you want to tutor me after everything that I did?" Haley smirked.

"Are you expressing remorse?" she asked genuinely surprised.

"Haley, I'm not proud of what happened between us. I always regretted hurting you and driving you away," he said. "I'm sorry for what I did." She nodded.

/So I have changed but not that much. It amazes me when people like Nathan or Peyton are so surprised that I'll forgive them so easily. All I wanted was an apology the entire time/

Two hours later…

"I heard about your parents," he said softly. Haley looked at him.

"How?" she asked.

"I was looking for a job in the newspaper and came across their obituaries this morning," he said. Haley had postponed putting the notice in the paper because she wanted to wait until she was at school not for while she was away so sympathy could start growing. She wanted people to realize that she was not going to fall apart and for them to notice that, she had to be there when they found out. She knew there was flaw in that logic but she didn't care.

"Are you ok?" he asked. Haley nodded. He studied her for a minute, unconvinced. She looked up to meet his gaze and her face faltered.

"I'm holding up," she said more honestly. He reached across the table and put his hand on hers and squeezed it.

"I'm here for you," he said.


	8. The Realities That We Can't Face

**The Realities That We Can't Face **(Chapter eight)

A week earlier…

Haley was sitting down at a table in the tutoring centre, waiting for Nathan to show up. When he finally showed up, he sat down and smiled at her. Haley frowned at him. "You're late," she said firmly.

"Practice ran a little late," he said, shrugging. Haley looked at him in disbelief. "I'm serious. Whitey sat us down on the bleachers and gave us this whole speech about how we were embarking on a new stage in our lives."

"Why is there a practice a week before we graduate?" Haley asked.

"Why are you tutoring me a week before we graduate?" he shot back. Haley rolled her eyes.

"Because you have an exam in two hours and you called me yesterday, begging me to go over the material with you beforehand," Haley reminded him, smirking as he remembered calling her.

"Sorry," he said. Haley shrugged.

"Well, just hope that you pass this exam so that you can go to Duke and I will finally be rid of you," Haley said, laughing as he glared at her.

"You're going to miss me and you know it," he said. Haley shook her head.

"I'll miss Jake, Lucas, Peyton and even Brooke," she corrected him. His jaw dropped.

"Well, I'm going to miss you even if you won't miss me," he said. Haley rolled her eyes.

"Of course I'm going to miss you, silly. Jeez. Sometimes you can be very dense," she said.

/Three days until graduation and I could barely stand still, I was so excited that high school was almost over. The end was so close, I could taste it. Haley and I were finally friends again and who knows? Maybe we'd become something more. Neither of us had been dating other people at the time, but Haley had her own demons that she was fighting and I was too stupid to realize it./

Nathan walked into the tutoring centre beaming. He had passed his exam and he was on his way to tell Haley the good news. It was three days before they were to graduate and they had already made plans to celebrate the end of high school that night. Of course, they were just going to go to Karen's Café and eat dinner, but as long as he was with Haley, he didn't care where they went. He was surprised to see that Haley wasn't in the tutoring centre. She was always there when he couldn't find her anywhere else in the school. He walked over to the bare desk that had belonged to Haley. It was completely cleaned out. What the hell? Haley had cleaned the desk out already. He turned around and realized that the files were gone too. He walked to his locker to get his jacket because he was going to go by her house. He opened his locker door and a small envelope fell to the floor. There was one name on the front. His. He opened it and sighed as he recognized Haley's handwriting:

Dear Nathan,

Unfortunately, I am not going to be at school anymore. Scott called me, saying he needed my help in Montreal. So I am moving to Canada and living in Montreal. I will be going to school there too. I've enrolled to the Schulic School of Music of McGill University. I heard that you passed your exam. Congratulations! I knew you could do it just like I know that you're going to have an amazing time at Duke U. I wish you all the best. I know you'll do well in whatever you decide to do with your life. Good luck.

Love your friend,  
Haley J.

So Haley had disappeared once again. At least she had told him this time. But he still would've liked to say goodbye to her. He wished her all the luck in the world too. He would miss her more than anything but he understood why she had left this time.

Six years later…

Haley James got out of her bed and started unpacking her things and putting them away in her new New York apartment. She had just returned to the US a few days before from Canada. She was heading up the NYC division of The JL (James Label). Her parents had expressed in their will that they would love to see their children take over the business. Her brother Scott headed up the Quebec/Ontario location and she had been there receiving education while discovering her own love of music and furthering her vocal ability. She was even signed onto the label as a recording artist. She was on her way to do an interview with some reporter from THUD magazine.

About twenty minutes later, Haley was sitting down at a local coffee shop where the magazine had asked her to meet their reporter. She waited for fifteen minutes until a woman around her age walked in. She sat down across from her and her eyes widened in recognition. "Haley? Oh, my God, it is you!"

"Yes, I'm Haley James," she replied, shaking the woman's hand. She laughed and ran her hand through her curly blond hair.

"Haley, it's me, Peyton," the woman said.

"Peyton Sawyer?" Haley asked. Peyton smiled at her.

"You do remember me! But, actually, the last name is Jagielski now," Peyton said. Haley looked at her in confusion. "I'm married."

"To Jake Jagielski?" Haley asked. Peyton nodded. She was floored. She knew that Jake and Peyton had dated after high school, but she didn't think they were still together.

"So, I'm the reporter here. It's my job to ask you questions," Peyton said. Haley nodded and smiled. "What have you been up to these past few years? I heard you were in Canada studying at some French music school."

"I was studying at the École de musique Schulich in Montreal and it's actually a Canadian school," Haley replied.

"And what did you major in?" Peyton asked. Haley had to smile.

"Music," she replied simply.

"Oh, I know that. What kind of music?" Peyton asked. Haley answered the question and Peyton began jotting down the answers. They began talking about how their lives had been, personal and professional.

A week later…

Nathan woke up and walked to his apartment door. He could've sworn there had been someone knocking on it. He was about to leave when something stuck to his door caught his eye. It was a magazine and there was a sticky note posted on it. He picked it up and smirked at Peyton's writing:

Nate:

This is the latest issue of THUD Magazine. There's an article in it you might want to check out. Talk to you later.

Peyton Jagielski

He brought the magazine in and plopped down on the couch with it. He opened it and smirked as Peyton had highlighted a page number. He flipped to page 87 and almost dropped the magazine when he saw the title of the magazine: "Returning With Musical Inspiration: The JL in New York Has a New CEO". He began to read the article.

Returning With Musical Inspiration: The JL in New York Has a New CEO

The JL (James Label) is one of the most prestigious music labels in the country. They have offices all around the world. It was created by the late Lydia and Jimmy James and remains intact by their six children, each heading up a branch of their own in different parts of the world. The New York JL has now received a new CEO, one of the James children.

The youngest and adopted child, Haley James, who has spent the last six years in Montreal, Quebec, Canada, studying at the prestigious Schulich School of Music (École de musique Schulich), a branch of McGill University, has just returned home to the States to carry on her parents' vision as well as furthering her own vocal career.

Surprisingly, Haley is the only one in the James family with musical talent. She went to school to learn music business as well as expanding her vocal talents. She's also signed to the label, hoping to release an album of original material later on in the year.

When questioned about who the lucky guy in her life is, Haley just smiled and said: "There is no special guy." Did you hear that guys? Not only is Haley talented in both music and business, she is also single. Well, at least for now.

Article written and illustrated by Peyton Jagielski

/When I read that Haley was back in the states and living in the same city as me I was shocked, to say the least. A thousand different feelings were running through me and the only one I could isolate was hope. I have been waiting for six years for Haley James to come back into my life and I can't wait to see her. Now all I have to do is run into her/

Haley couldn't believe that she had let Peyton drag her to a basketball game of all things. She had told her that it was Jake's first game of the season. He played on the North Carolina team and they had been national champions the last year. Peyton said they owed it all to their shooting guard, but wouldn't tell Haley who that was. After the game, Peyton and Haley waited outside the gym for Jake. Jake came out ten minutes after they did and he hugged and kissed Peyton and when he saw Haley, he ran over to her and hugged her. "It's about time you started to show your face around town," he exclaimed.

"I missed you, Jake," Haley said.

"I missed you too, Hales," he said. Then the door opened and out walked someone Haley hadn't even thought of running into. Nathan Scott came over to the group. He was taller, leaner, and more handsome than Haley remembered. His deep blue eyes met hers and they froze.

"Hi, Nathan," Haley said. He smiled.

"Hi, Haley. It's nice to see you," he said.

/So when I came back to the Sates, I had hoped and dreamed but I never thought that I'd actually see Nathan again. After all this time, it amazes me how he can still make my heart beat just a little bit faster. I missed him over the years and I'd constantly think about what he was doing or how he was or if he still thought of me. He recognized me and remembered who I was without anyone pointing me out to him so I guess I have my answer/


	9. Coming Back for More

**Coming Back for More **(Chapter nine)

Nathan studied Haley for a minute. She was absolutely stunning now. Her hair was no longer brown with blonde highlights; it was dark brown with light brown highlights. The way it had been when they had first met and dated. He liked her hair better this way. It seemed simple and mesmerizing just like her. She smiled at him and he shook his head and realized that she had stretched out her hand for a handshake. He accepted her hand and the moment their fingers touched, he felt something go through him. It was like a jolt of electricity only this time it didn't kill him, it made him realize just how much he missed Haley. "So, um, how about we go get something to eat?" Peyton asked, bring him out of his trance.

"Sure," Nathan said.

"I'm up for food," Jake said, and smiled when everyone started chuckling. "What do you say, Hales?"

"I guess I have time to eat," Haley said, smirking.

"Ok, then. Let's go because I am starving," Peyton said. Fifteen minutes later, they were all sitting down in a random restaurant that Peyton and Nathan had picked out and they were looking at their menus. Then all of a sudden, Peyton's beeper went off. She checked it, dialled a number and sighed. "Brooke, calm down. What's going on?" Haley looked at her in concern. Peyton just smirked and rolled her eyes.

"Brooke and Lucas are engaged right now and Brooke is also pregnant. So, she freaks out at the slightest problem," Jake explained.

"Slightest problem? She freaks out even when there is no problem. See, the doctor put her on bed rest for two weeks, which was about five days ago. So, ever since then, Brooke calls one of those two to come over and spend time with her," Nathan explained. Haley had to laugh.

"When did they get engaged?" Haley asked.

"Right out of high school," Jake replied. Haley almost spit out her water.

"They've been engaged for five and a half years?" she asked in disbelief. Jake and Nathan nodded.

"See, Brooke's parents kept putting off the marriage, putting silly conditions on it. Like, Brooke had to lose weight or Lucas had to get a haircut or a promotion. Things like that because they don't really want Brooke to marry Lucas since they think that she could do better. So, when Brooke found out she was pregnant, not only was it a good thing for her and Luke, her parents are now insisting that they get married right away," Nathan said.

"Wow. Just think. If she had only gotten pregnant three or four years ago, they would already be married now," Haley said. They all laughed and when Peyton hung up the phone, she joined them.

"Don't let Brooke hear you say that. She will freak on you," Peyton warned. Haley chuckled and nodded, even though she knew that the likelihood of her seeing Brooke again was not very good since she and Brooke were never friends to begin with. "Anyways, um, Jake and I have to go," Peyton said.

"What?" Nathan and Haley asked in unison.

/So this was Peyton's plan all along from the moment she stuck that magazine article to my door. She had planned the meeting outside the gym. Peyton had pulled some hair-brain and annoying schemes before, but this one is actually a good one. Peyton knows how much I've missed Haley and I'm glad she feels that she needs to push us in the right direction./

"I'm sorry. It's Brooke and she's in one of her freaky moods so we have to go and visit her and since I know you probably don't want to come, I didn't tell her you were here," Peyton said. Nathan nodded and smirked when Haley did as well.

"You guys could stay. Just put it on my tab," Peyton said. Nathan and Haley both glared at her.

"No, really. You guys could catch up and fill us in later," Jake said, grabbing Peyton's jacket and putting it on her. He had to bite his lip to keep himself from laughing at the death glare Haley was giving him. Then, they left.

"Well, I'll stay if you want," Nathan said. Haley sighed.

"Why pass up a free meal? All right," Haley replied. They ordered their food. Haley ordered some sort of French Canadian soup to be followed by a Caesar salad and Nathan ordered a burger and fries. While they were eating, they both sneaked glances at the other.

"So, how have you been?" Nathan asked. Haley shrugged.

"Fine, I guess," Haley replied. Nathan frowned.

"Gee, could you be a little more vague?" he asked. Haley nodded.

"If you want me to be," she replied and laughed.

"So, I read Peyton's article," he announced. Haley stopped eating and looked at him in surprise.

"You did, huh? So if you read it, you know how I've been," Haley replied. Nathan shook his head.

"No, no. That tells how you went to a school in Montreal, studied music and that you're a CEO of the JL in NYC and also a recording artist, which I found interesting," Nathan said.

"Why?" Haley asked, looking at him.

"Well, I always liked your voice and I suggested that you pursue music so I find it interesting that six years later, here you are, a recording artist. My advice means that much to you. I'm touched," Nathan said, smirking. Haley shook her head.

"You know, I was going to comment on how much you seemed to have changed, but I guess not," Haley said. Nathan looked at her in confusion. "You're still making those arrogant, not to mention, obnoxious comments." He laughed.

"And you still have a lot of patience when dealing with them," Nathan said, chuckling now.

"What?" Haley asked.

"Arrogant and obnoxious is pretty tame. Other girls have said worse about the comments I make," he said.

"Other girls?" Haley asked, raising her eyebrows in interest. "Still playing the field?"

"No," he replied.

"You don't date more than one girl at a time?" Haley asked.

"No, I don't date," he replied. Haley's brow furrowed. "It's not really fair to anyone who would date me considering my career. I am not in the town a lot and when I am, I like to catch up with friends and hang out at random events." Haley nodded.

"That makes sense. You don't want to tie anyone down," she said. He nodded.

"Well, yeah, I guess. But if the right girl came along, I don't know," he said. Haley laughed. "I really have missed you, Hales." Haley smiled.

"I've missed you too. I've missed everyone and I'm glad that I'm back," she said.

"When you left, I didn't think I'd ever see you again," he commented. She nodded.

"I'm sorry for leaving the way I did. I've never really been good at saying good-bye and I didn't want to face people because I knew that if I saw you guys, I wouldn't want to leave," she said.

"But you would have. Haley, it's ok. I understand that you had to be there for your family. Better than anyone, I know what that's like," he said. Haley didn't push for an answer because it didn't seem like her place. "And at least you wrote a letter that time," he said. Haley chuckled. Then, Haley's cell phone rang. She looked at it.

"It's work. Hold on a second," she said, as she flipped her phone open and started talking to her secretary. Apparently, there was a meeting with a producer. "I'm so sorry, Nathan. I have to get to a meeting with a producer. It's one of my friends who's the singer so I promised her that I would oversee her career. But this was fun and I would love to catch up more," Haley said. Nathan smiled and nodded in understanding.

"Are you free tomorrow night?" he asked. Haley was getting her jacket on and she froze at the question. She nodded. "Then, how about we grab some dinner then and catch up?" he asked. She smiled at him and then considered the offer.

"I guess dinner wouldn't be too much trouble. Call me tonight with the details?" she asked and looked at him. He nodded and smiled.

"How about tomorrow night, I pick you up and we have dinner here?" he asked. Haley smiled and gave him her phone number and address. "It's a date," he said, holding out his hand. Haley took it and squeezed it as she nodded. He couldn't believe that not even a day into her return he had managed to get her to agree to go out on a date for him. Now, he had to plan and make sure he didn't screw this up.

/ I can't believe I didn't see Peyton's little plan coming. Though I am so pissed at her for butting her nose into mine and Nathan's business, I feel like I owe her one. If it weren't for her sneaking manoeuvring, I wouldn't be going out on a "date" tomorrow with Nathan/

The next day…

"Oh, so, I'm going to help pick out the best outfit for your date tonight with Nathan," Brooke Davis said, as she and Peyton walked into Haley's apartment. Haley frowned. The only reason Brooke was there was because Peyton had refused to come over without Brooke.

"First of all, I've got an outfit picked out already and I wouldn't let you pick clothes for me anyway. Second, it's not a date. It's just two friends having dinner and catching up," Haley said.

"Two friends who used to date," Brooke pointed out. Haley shrugged.

"So?" Haley asked.

"So, it's never just dinner when the two people have a past," Brooke explained. Haley looked at Peyton who just rolled her eyes in response.

"Nathan and I dated for a few months a long time ago," Haley reminded her. Brooke laughed.

"Oh, please. I saw the two of you together back then. You didn't just date. You two loved each other," Brooke said.

"And I saw you two together yesterday," Peyton said.

"And?" Haley asked.

"Well, it seemed as if after Jake and I left, you two got pretty cosy," Peyton said.

"I thought you had to go see Brooke after she called you. How would you know what Nathan and I looked like after you left?" Haley asked.

"I never called you," Brooke said, looking at Haley and Peyton in confusion. Peyton gritted her teeth and slapped Brooke lightly on the shoulder. "Ow!" Haley turned to Peyton.

"I knew it!" Haley exclaimed. Peyton tried her best to look over at Haley innocently.

"What?" Peyton asked.

"That the whole thing was a setup! The fact that you wanted me to meet you at a game which Nathan just happened to be playing at, then waiting outside for Jake, knowing we'd run into him, then suggesting to eat and then leaving me and Nathan alone. You even gave him that article you wrote about me to make sure he knew I was back," Haley said. Peyton bit her lip.

"How did you know about that?" she asked.

"He commented on how he read the article and I knew he didn't just by an issue of THUD. Someone had to have given it to him," Haley said. Peyton looked at her in embarrassment and smiled. "Why are you putting us together?" Peyton sighed.

"I know how much you two care about each other still, Haley and I know that if it weren't for me, you two would've gone on dating throughout high school and you'd probably be married by now," Peyton said.

/I was shocked that Peyton felt responsible for the reason Nathan and I broke up and while she is partly to blame for our break up in ninth grade, it was not her fault that we never got back together. The fact that she still feels guilty after all these years, after I forgave her a long time ago, and that she still wants to put Nathan and I together means a lot. Well, I can't deny that I haven't thought of Nathan in the past few years because that would be a lie if I ever heard one, I'm not sure I'm ready to start 'dating' him yet/

It was almost eight o'clock when Nathan showed up at Haley's front door. He lightly knocked and smiled when she opened the door. She let him in, explaining that she still needed to get her shoes and purse. "I'll be a few seconds," she said, rushing back into her bedroom, he guessed. He looked around and smiled at the sight. It was exactly how he pictured her living room would be. A couch, a chair, a television, a table, and one lamp set to one side of the room. On the other side was a piano with sheet music scattered all over it. Then there was a stand off to one side of the bench with a guitar case on the floor beside it. It was almost like that was her music corner. Then there was a computer that was like a mini recording studio. Haley came out dressed in a simple navy blue dress with black sling backs on her feet. Her purse was black as well. She grabbed her coat. "What do you think?" she asked, gesturing to her living room. He chuckled.

"Fairly predictable," he said and then he explained why which Haley laughed at.

"Let me guess what yours looks like. The living room has a big entertainment system fully equipped with the latest game system and a whole punch of basketball games. Probably TiVo or something like that. A VCR, DVD player and on somewhere on the wall, one of those little basketball hoops with the little blow-up kind of balls. Am I right?" Haley asked when they were in the car. He rolled his eyes and chuckled at her fairly accurate assessment of his living room. They sat down in the restaurant. They chatted about everything, from their school days to their current jobs. Nathan was telling her about the first game he ever played in as pro.

"It was the best feeling ever. You can't imagine. When I scored that point and the crowd cheered and the rest of my team mates came over and hoisted me up. I love it, Hales," he said. Haley nodded. "Your turn."

"I don't know," she said, shaking her head. She had just asked him what the most exhilarating experience in the past six years.

"Oh, yes, you do. You probably just don't want to tell me," he said. Haley shook her head.

"All right," she said, "It was two years ago. I had just graduated and I was helping Scott with the JL in Montreal and he was helping me getting my singing career started. So, he took me to a club where they had this open mike thing and Scott volunteered me to go on stage and even chose a song for me to sing. It was that song by Christina Aguilera called 'I Turn to You'. It's corny, I know and I really am not fond of that song personally but Scott knew I could sing it and the band actually knew it so. And I got on stage, sang and when I was finished, the entire room went silent. Then one person started clapping and the others slowly started and then everybody stood up and started cheering." He congratulated her and commented on how good a feeling it must've been.

"Are you putting on a concert at any time?" he asked.

"Uh. I'm not putting on a concert, but I will be singing a few songs with one of my friends. The one I was telling you about," Haley said.

"When?" he asked.

"Tomorrow night," she replied. He nodded.

"Any spare tickets?" he asked.

"I gave some to Peyton for all of you," she said. He smiled.

"I would really like to hear you sing," he said. They left the restaurant and pulled in front of her apartment building. He leaned over and kissed her after she took his seatbelt off. "I just wanted to see if it still felt the same." Haley smirked, pulled him closer, and kissed him hard.

"And what's the verdict?" she asked.

"A million times better," he replied, smiling. He kissed her again and again. He opened his door and locked it. Then he came around to her side and opened her door. He took her arm and led her to her apartment door. She fiddled with the keys as he pushed her against her front door. Haley had just gotten the key in the lock and he kissed her hard. She fumbled with the doorknob a few times before she actually got it open and was afraid that she would fall backwards as the door opened but Nathan anticipated this and lifted her up before the door fully opened. He lifted her up as he kissed her and she kicked the door closed. He carried her to her bedroom and gently laid her down on the bed.

The next morning, they woke up in each other's arms. Nathan pulled her tighter against him and she leaned her chin on his chest, kissed him and smiled. "Good morning," she said.

"Morning," he said, smiling and kissed the top of her head.

"You do know that Peyton set us up from day one, right?" she asked. He laughed and pulled her closer.

"I figured it out yesterday," he replied. Then he looked around the room. "Remind me to send her a thank-you card." Haley burst out laughing against him. She went into one of her fits of hysteria that Jake had constantly teased her about. He leaned down and kissed her to silence her giggles.

/So much for my not being ready to date him yet. It was a little fast for my standards but it was definitely worth it./

/I am so thankful to Peyton right now for being a nosy reporter. If she hadn't done what she did, I would not have Haley in my arms and I would not be able to once again call her my girlfriend. This time, I will not take her for granted./


	10. Complicated

**Complicated **(Chapter ten)

Haley walked out of her apartment building and smiled when she saw Nathan leaning against his car waiting for her. "Well, it's about time," he said as she came over to him. He leaned in and kissed her and opened the passenger door open for her.

"Such a gentlemen," she teased as she got in and put her seatbelt on. He got in and started the car.

"So, are you excited?" he asked. Haley shrugged.

"What's there to be excited about? It's a banquet," she replied.

"It's an athletic banquet and your boyfriend is winning an award," Nathan reminded her.

"Well, I'm proud of you," she said, leaning over and kissing him on the cheek. He smiled at her.

/I love her so much, it's scaring me. I never thought I'd feel this way again after she left for Canada in high school. Or, at least I never thought it'd be with her. I want to spend all my time with her. I don't even really want to go to this banquet tonight. The only reason I am going is because I get to see Haley dressed up and then, and I'm being extremely hopeful here, not dressed up./

"Are you excited?" Haley asked. He smirked.

"Not really," he replied. Haley's brow furrowed.

"Why?" she asked.

"I hate being in the spotlight," he admitted. Haley burst out laughing. "It's not funny, Hales." Haley almost choked but caught her breath.

"I'm sorry, but that's one of the most ridiculous things I've ever heard," she said. He looked at her in confusion. Then, she started to point out how he was an all-state champion for four years in a row in high school, as well as the star player and captain in his senior year. Then, he moved on to claim the all-state champion title in the college league. Then, he went pro. "I'm sorry, but if you really hated being in the spotlight, choosing to be a professional basketball player was not the smartest way of avoiding it." He shrugged.

"Well, get ready because you're about to be in the spotlight too," he said. Haley rolled her eyes as she reminded him that she already was.

"I'm a singer, Nathan. I'm used to large crowds and I'm the daughter of Jimmy and Lydia James," she pointed out. He laughed.

"I guess that's true," he said, pulling into a parking lot and turning off the engine.

"Thank you," Nathan said as he walked off the stage with the trophy in his hand and sat down next to Haley at their table. She kissed him lightly on the lips, but it was enough to get a few whistles out of the audience.

"So when do you want to leave?" she asked. Her tone was more than suggestive and Nathan smiled.

"Just a few more minutes ought to be enough," he replied, chuckling. Just then, some woman came up behind them and tapped Haley on the shoulder.

"I'm sorry. Haley James?" the woman asked. Haley and Nathan both looked at her. This woman had long, chocolate brown hair, pale skin and dark blue eyes.

"Yes?" Haley asked carefully. The woman reached out her hand.

"Hi. You don't know me, but my name is Michelle Caine," she said. Haley stiffened at the familiarity of the name.

"It's nice to meet you," she said cautiously. When she didn't go away, Haley looked at Nathan. He shrugged. "Is there something you wanted to tell me?"

"Yes, actually," Michelle said, nodding. They looked at her expectantly. "I'm your mother." Then, Michelle turned and walked away.

/So here I am sitting with my boyfriend of three and a half months, perfectly minding my own business when some woman rudely taps me on the shoulder and introduces herself, shoving her hand in my face. As if I wasn't pissed enough. THEN, she intrudes even more and just blurts out that she's my birth mother and then walks away! I don't know why I'm so shocked, though. But as a child, when I did picture meeting my actual parents, which was not that often by the way, I imagined it going somewhat differently. Like I imagined it being me that walked away, proving to them that I didn't need them in my life. What kind of person just announces something like that and then leaves? She just ruined this night for me. It was supposed to be a nigh for me and Nathan, maybe even turn into a morning. Just my luck. Whenever I'm happy, something always manages to come along and screw things up. I don't need this Michelle person in my life right now. I need Nathan. No one else. Least of all her./


	11. Foolish Games

**Foolish Games **(Chapter eleven)

"Are you all right?" Nathan asked the next morning as they walked into Brooke and Lucas' apartment where they had agreed to have breakfest. Haley looked at him. Her gaze was steely as she sat down at the table.

"I told you I was fine," she replied finally in a tone that contradicted her words. He bit his lip. She had been on edge ever since they had gotten back from the restaurant. He figured a night to herself would help her digest everything and maybe even calm her down but it had done nothing to improve her mood. When he had picked her up twenty minutes earlier, her anger and irritability were evident in the way she walked. And what came out of her mouth was seemed to corroborate what Nathan already knew: Haley was anything but fine.

"Why wouldn't she be fine?" Lucas asked, coming into the room and grabbing a few plates for everyone. Haley was about to open her mouth but Nathan cut her off.

"We ran into someone we didn't expect yesterday and she's upset about it," Nathan replied. Haley exhaled in frustration.

"Hi; I'm sitting right here," Haley reminded them. Then she turned to Nathan. "And I haven't admitted to feeling anything about it so before you answer for me, you might want to make sure your assessment is accurate." Lucas whistled and looked at Nathan in disbelief.

"Hi, Haley! Hey, Nate," Brooke exclaimed, waddling into the room and sitting down beside them. She was completely oblivious as she smiled at them.

"I'm sorry. I just assumed that you would be upset," Nathan said. Haley chuckled wryly.

"Well, don't assume because when people assume things, they usually make an ass…" Haley started but Brooke cut her off.

"Haley!" Brooke exclaimed, covering her stomach in protection. Haley looked over at Brooke in confusion.

"What?" she asked.

"Don't curse in front of me," Brooke instructed. Haley looked at her in amusement.

/Okay, Brooke does realize that she is Brooke Davis, right? I mean, she swore practically every damn day I saw her back in high school and what I said pales into comparison to all of the horrendous things that have come out of her mouth/

"Why?" Haley asked.

"Because he can hear you," Brooke said. Haley looked at her. She smirked. She knew what she meant but decided to have fun with Brooke since she seemed to be against swearing now.

"I didn't realize you were so religious, Brooke," Haley commented. Lucas cracked a smile as he caught on. Nathan had to bite his lip to keep from chuckling as he turned to see the look on Brooke's face. Brooke's nose was wrinkled as she rolled her eyes.

"I'm not religious. I was talking about the 'he' inside of me," Brooke said, shaking her head in annoyance.

"Oh. Sorry," Haley said. Nathan looked away and smirked.

/It was the least sincere apology I've ever heard and the fact that Haley was the one who said it, tells me that she's not coping well with her mom's, if you can even call her that, sudden appearance in her life. The thing that gets to me the most is that they only saw each other for a two or three minutes and Haley's already on the war path. I hate to think of what'll happen when she and her mother have an actual sit down or whatever. I'm worried about Haley at any rate./

"Why so charming this morning?" Brooke asked. She seemed to be catching on.

"I had an annoying visit from the woman who gave birth to me last night," Haley replied. Lucas dropped his spoon into his cereal and milk splashed up onto his shirt. Brooke just widened her eyes in complete shock.

It was a well-known fact that Haley James was adopted now. Back in high school, Nathan had been the only person Haley had ever confided that piece of information with. But it was one thing to know that she was adopted and another to be confronted with proof of it. Lucas and Brooke looked to Nathan to fill in the blanks.

"She came up to our table and tapped Haley on the shoulder…" Nathan started.

"She just came over and butt into your conversation and introduced herself? Talk about being rude," Brooke interruped. Haley cracked a smile and Nathan glared at Brooke in annoyance who smirked at him apologetically.

"Anyways, she introduced herself as Michelle Caine and then Haley's mother. Then…" Nathan started.

"Then she just walked away!" Haley exclaimed. Her tone carried her anger and confusion in it. Brooke and Lucas looked over at her sympathetically and then looked at Nathan. Brooke cracked a smile at him.

"Come on, Broody. Let's go and work on the nursery for a while. I have a few comments on the wallpaper that you've picked out," Brooke said, dragging Lucas up and pulling him away.

"Great. We're going to be a few hundred years. Make yourselves at home," Lucas said on the way to the hallway. Nathan supressed a smirk and he looked at Haley, who was now staring at the plate infront of her, shaking her head in confusion.

"So, that's what's got you so worked up?" he asked. She looked up at him. "It's not that she's back, it's that she just walked away after telling you who she was." It was a statement, not a question. Haley sighed.

"I just don't understand it. Why even bother telling me if she wasn't planning on sticking around?" Haley asked. Nathan moved to the chair beside her and took one of her hands and rubbed it between his.

"I don't know," he admitted. Haley smirked.

"I'm sorry I've been so rude lately," she said. He shook his head.

"Hey, it's perfectly understandable. I was wondering when you were going to come out of your little stupor and admit that you weren't fine, though," he said. Haley shrugged.

"I don't even know what to do with the information," she confessed.

"What do you mean?" he asked.

"Well, I know a lot of adopted kids try to find out more about where they came from. They even go searching for their biological parents, but not me. I didn't even care about them. Yeah, I was fortunate enough to know that I was adopted. It explained a lot," Haley said, referring to the differences between her and her family. Nathan nodded. "But other than that, I didn't care. I know it sounds weird but I didn't spend a lot of time wondering about my parents because as far as I was concerned, the ones who mattered were already with me."

"You didn't even wonder about them?" Nathan asked. Haley shook her head.

"No. Not once," Haley said.

"It's ironic," he said. Haley looked at him.

"How's that?" she asked.

"Well, you always did seem so sure of who you were when you probably knew less about yourself than any of us back then," Nathan replied. Haley chuckled.

"Yeah," she agreed. Nathan put his hand on her cheek and then ran it through her hair.

"Look, you shouldn't worry too much about your mom. I mean, you have aboslutely no obligation to have anything to do with her. So, if she just wants to walk away, that's fine. At least you know who she is," Nathan said. Haley smiled at him.

"You're right. How did you get to be so smart?" she asked, raising an eyebrow in interest. He put his arm around her and pulled her closer to him.

"Well, you see, I had this amazing tutor in high school who believed me. Come to think of it, you look a lot like her," he said. Haley smiled and laughed as she kissed him.

"No, seriously. The resemblance is uncanny," he said when the kiss ended. Haley wapped him on the shoulder with a rolled up placemat and was about to again when he caught her arm and pulled her to him, crushing her lips with his.

"I'm here for you; whatever you need," he said.

"Thanks," she said, snuggling into his shoulder.

Two days later…

Haley walked into her office and froze when she saw Michelle Caine sitting at one of the chairs in front of her desk. She was looking around the room. Haley rested against the door for a second and observed the woman.

Michelle Caine and Haley resembled each other. Michelle had the same small frame as Haley. Her skin was pale and their hair was the same chocolate brown. Haley figured she got her hazel eyes from her father or someone else in her family. Michelle had a delicate voice and Haley wondered if she had any musical talent at all. She didn't like the look in Michelle's eyes, though. They screamed of deceit and danger.

"So, what exactly is it that you want?" Haley asked, surprising Michelle as she jumped at the sound of her voice. She walked further into her office and sat down at her desk. "If it's money, you're after, then, you can forget it." Michelle scoffed.

"You think I introduced myself to my daughter in order to squeeze a few bucks out of you?" Michelle asked.

"You would hardly be the first person to approach the child you gave up years later when they were all grown-up and even more vulnerable because they never had you when they were growing up," Haley said. Michelle looked at her in surprise. Then Haley looked at her warningly. "Well, I'm not vulnerable to you. To be honest, I haven't really spent a lot of time thinking about you over the years. Actually, none that I recall."

"I never met the people that adopted you five years after I gave you up. The orphanage contacted me for consent. I just signed the forms because on paper, they seemed so perfect. I would never have given you over to them had I known that they would've raised such a cynic," Michelle said. Haley glared at her.

"Well, I'm not surprised that you weren't responsible enough to check out the people you were handing your flesh and blood over to. I mean, you did get pregnant at fifteen. That's not exactly a good example of good choices, is it?" Haley asked.

"I was raped," Michelle corrected her.

"Sure you were," Haley said, unconvinced.

"You don't believe I was raped?" Michelle asked. Haley shook her head.

"I believe that was just something that you told your parents so that they wouldn't kick you out," Haley said. Michelle looked at her.

"You knew who I was all along," Michelle confirmed. Haley shrugged.

"I knew your history. I read the file about you that the people at the orhpanage had given me. You know, the one you left," Haley said.

"And you said you didn't spend a lot of time thinking about me," Michelle said.

"After I left the orphanage, I didn't think about you. I was there for five years before I was adopted," Haley said. Then she folded her arms across her chest as she glared at Michelle. "Did you know that?" Michelle looked down as she shook her head.

"No," she admitted. Haley nodded.

"Then, allow me to make myself crystal clear. Whatever it is that you came here for, I'm not interested. See, when you abandoned me… When you just dumped me off at the orphanage like I was old clothing you were dropping off at the Salvation Army, you gave up your right to get to know me. So just turn around and walk out that door right now because this," Haley said, pointing to the few feet between them, "is as close as we are ever going to get."


	12. Waiting for Someone Who Never Came

Waiting for Someone Who Never Came (Chapter twelve)

_/I really wish Michelle would just crawl back under whatever rock she came from. I have no interest in spending "quality time" with the woman who abandoned me. I would rather eat dirt. I just want things back to the way they were before she showed up. Nathan and I were happy and he wasn't constantly worrying about me. I mean, I'm grateful that he's concerned and cares so much, but I really don't think it's that necessary/_

Nathan and Haley were inside of a restaurant. Nathan leaned over and met Haley in a small kiss. "I'll be right back," he said, getting up and leaving.

"Don't be too long," Haley said. Nathan just smiled at her. A few seconds later, Michelle Caine came out of nowhere and sat down in one of the three vacant chairs.

"Do you mind?" Haley demanded. Michelle looked at her pleadingly.

"I just want to talk to you, Haley," she said. "Please just hear me out," she added.

"Fine," Haley said, folding her arms across her chest in annoyance.

"I really want to just be in your life, Haley. I would like for us to get to know each other," Michelle said.

"I'm sorry but I think it's too late for that," Haley said.

"Well, I hope you'll reconsider. Even after all this time, I feel like your mother," Michelle said. Haley frowned.

"Lydia James was my mother," Haley said stiffly.

"I know that. Lydia and Jimmy raised you. But I carried you for nine months and I gave birth to you. Seeing you again has made me realize that I never got over losing you," Michelle said. Haley narrowed her eyes.

"And it took you nineteen years to figure that out?" Haley asked.

"When I realized that I couldn't keep you, I was heartbroken. I knew what I had to do and it was the hardest thing I've ever done," Michelle said. By that time, Nathan had reappeared. He sat down in his seat and was about to tell Michelle to leave when Haley leaned forward and glared at Michelle.

"Let's get one thing straight: You did not lose me. You abandoned me," Haley said. Michelle started to shake her head but Haley nodded. "You did. You threw me away by choice. You're not a martyr. You didn't sacrifice what you wanted and give me to better people. You didn't care about me. You saw me as a problem that needed to be dealt with. You were selfish; plain and simple."

"No. I realized that you were better off without me," Michelle said.

"And I still am," Haley retorted.

"Look, I didn't expect that you would throw your arms around me and call me 'mommy'," Michelle started. Haley snorted. "But I did hope that you would not shut the door. Please don't rule me out of your life."

"You were never in my life to begin with," Haley reminded her.

"Hales, do you want to leave?" Nathan asked.

"No," Haley said. Then she turned to Michelle. "I want you to leave."

"Haley," Michelle began.

"Now," Haley demanded. Michelle sighed and got up and left. A few minutes later, Nathan cleared his throat.

"Maybe you should give her a chance," Nathan said quietly. Haley looked up at him.

_/Right away I knew it was the wrong thing to suggest. I just felt so bad for Michelle. She looked so defeated. I can't exactly blame her for wanting to get to know Haley. Haley is a wonderful person. I love her to death and I hate to see her in so much pain. But I think that if she really gave Michelle a chance and started to get to know her, she wouldn't be so miserable./_

"She had her chance but she gave me up," Haley said.

"Everyone makes mistake," Nathan offered.

"So I should just forgive and forget, right?" Haley asked.

"Maybe," he said. Haley shook her head. Nathan put his hand on her shoulder. "Why?"

"Because I went through hell at that orphanage," Haley said. Nathan straightened. It was the first time she had opened up about her time at the orphanage. He knew it couldn't have been a picnic there but Haley had usually shrugged it off.

"What happened?" he asked.

"A lot of things," Haley said.

"Haley," he said.

"I can't talk about it here, Nathan," she said, gesturing to the openness of the restaurant. He nodded.

Three hours later…

They were lying in Haley's bed wrapped in each other's arms. Haley rested her head against Nathan's chest. "Please tell me," he said.

"You're going to think its ridiculous," Haley said. Nathan brushed a hand through her hair.

"Haley, if it's got you this upset, it cannot be ridiculous. Please, just let me in," he said.

"Every Sunday at the orphanage, they would make us dress in our best clothes. They would stand us in a line for hours waiting to be chosen by families who had come to adopt," Haley started. She paused for a minute. Nathan kept massaging her back, urging her to continue.

"It's okay. You can tell me," he said. Haley sighed.

"For five years, I wouldn't do it. I'd wear the rattiest clothes I could find and I would always frown. I didn't want to be chosen because I held onto the belief that someday my mom would come back for me," Haley said. Her voice was breaking and Nathan pulled her closer against him.

"What changed?" he asked.

"Nothing. I did it every Sunday. Then, my mom and dad came in one day. My mom stopped at me and smiled. She brought my dad over and they both stared at me while still smiling. Then my mom said, 'She is definitely a James'," Haley said. Nathan laughed. That sounded like a Lydia James thing to do. "And that's when I knew that I was home."

"Even though you still thought Michelle was going to come and get you," he said. Haley scoffed.

"I realized that she would never look at me like my mom did. My mom looked at me as if she'd been searching for me for years," Haley said. Nathan understood what she meant. Lydia had only been searching for a day. Michelle had actually been away from Haley for years and had not once come looking for her.

"I understand," he said.

"Believe me. If I had known it was Michelle I was waiting for, I would have cleaned up. I never will give her a chance," Haley said.

/So I change my mind. I want Michelle to stay away from Haley after realizing how disappointed and hurt Haley must have gotten when Michelle never came those Sundays. I just wish I could take all of Haley's pain away/

"Nathan," Haley said.

"Yeah," he said.

"Thank you," she said. He looked down at her. "For listening to me and being here."

"I love you, Haley," he said, feeling that that explained everything.

"I love you too," Haley said and snuggled closer against him.

The next morning...

Nathan woke up and smiled when he saw Haley still sleeping in his arms. He kissed her lightly on the head and then his cell phone rang. He reached over, careful not to disturb Haley and answered it. "Hello?" he whispered.

"Nathan, come to the hospital now!" Lucas' panicked voice rang out from the other end.

"Lucas, slow down. What's going on?" he asked.

"It's Dad. He had a stroke. You need to get here quickly," Lucas said. Nathan hung up and woke Haley. He got up, took a shower and came back into her room to find her laying a pair of her jeans and shirt on her bed next to the clothes he had taken out of the drawer he had at her apartment.

"Hales, what are you doing?" he asked, looking at her clothes.

"Laying my clothes out for after my shower," Haley replied matter of factly.

"Wh..." he started but Haley just came over and kissed him.

"I'm coming to the hospital with you," she said.

"Haley, that's really nice, but you don't have to..." he began. He wanted her to come but he didn't want her to have to deal with his family situation on top of her own.

"Don't be ridiculous, Nathan. Of course I do. I love you," she said, offering up the same reason he had for being there for her. He kissed her in response.

"I love you too," he said.


	13. One Life Ends, Another Begins

A/N: Well, I'm sorry for making you wait so long. I hurt my hand so I'm not as fast as I normally am with the typing. But there is two stories updated for you today. It's been weird ever since I got back. So updates for the other stories are on the way. You just need to be patient. About this chapter: it's sad at the beginning. There is a lot of Naley in it though, so you'll be pleased. Also, this is the final chapter of this story. It's been so much fun writing and I hope you like it. I want to thank all of you for reading and reviewing this story. So here's the final chapter. Please leave some feedback for me to read and enojoy )

**One Life Ends, Another Begins **(Chapter fourteen)

/I can understand what Nathan is going through right now. His father could die at any time. In a way, I'm thankful that my parents died in the plane crash immediately. They didn't suffer and I didn't have to stand around a hospital waiting for the doctor to come out and tell me that they were gone. The waiting alone would be agonizing. Now, I'm praying that Mr. Scott recovers because I don't want Nathan to know what it's like to lose a parent so soon. It's one of the most devastating things in the world in my opinion and I wouldn't wish that on anyone especially Nathan/

"Luke!" Nathan exclaimed as he found his brother in the hallway sitting beside Nathan's mom in one of the chairs in a waiting room. Lucas looked up and sighed heavily as his little brother and Haley approached them. Nathan's mom got up and wrapped her arms around her son. Nathan clung to his mother. "How is he?"

"They're still working on him. The doctor will come and talk to us as soon as they're done," Deb Scott said as she released her son. She turned and saw a girl she did not recognize. She looked at her questioningly. Nathan held out his hand and the girl took it. She noticed that she squeezed Nathan's hand.

"Mom, this is Haley," Nathan said. Deb looked at Haley, the girl Nathan had been yacking about nonstop for the past few months. Haley reached out her hand and Deb took it.

"I'm really sorry about your husband. I hope he recovers," Haley said genuinely. Deb smiled.

"Thank you," she said. Then she turned and looked at Nathan who was watching the two of them nervously. Deb nodded at him in approval. "It's nice to finally meet you, Haley." Haley smiled.

"Mom, you've met her before," Nathan said. Deb frowned. "You don't remember?"

"I'm sorry. I think I would've remembered meeting your girlfriend, Nate," she said.

"I can understand why you don't remember me. I was a lot younger the first time Nathan and I dated," Haley said.

"First time?" Deb repeated and looked at Nathan.

"Deb, you do remember Haley James, don't you?" Lucas asked. Deb gasped. She looked at Haley again and right away she could see remnants of the fourteen-year-old girl she had known so long ago. The first girl who had caught her son's heart and had always possessed it. Nathan came over and wrapped his arms around Haley's waist and pulled her closer. He kissed her forehead and Haley leaned up and kissed him on the cheek. Deb smiled.

"Well, it took you long enough to get her back," Deb commented. Both Nathan and Haley burst out laughing. "Thanks for coming, Haley. I really appreciate it." Haley smiled and nodded. Deb walked away and sat back down beside Lucas' mom, Karen.

"And I'll never let you slip through my fingers again," Nathan said, leaning down and whispering in her ear.

"I'm not going anywhere," she said. Then she walked out of his embrace and turned around to face him. "Except to the washroom." Nathan nodded and walked over to his mom.

A week later…

"Nathan, I'm so proud of you. I hope you know that. Lucas…" Dan Scott whispered weakly. Nathan could feel the tears at his eyes as he shook his head furiously at his father.

"Dad, hold on," Lucas whispered. The Scott family- Lucas, Nathan, Deb, Karen and Keith- were all gathered into Dan's hospital room. The doctors had told them the day before that Dan was not going to live much longer. They were now in the last few minutes of his life.

"It's ok. I love you all. And I'll always be with you," Dan began whispering, almost incoherently. Then he started mumbling things that were hard for Nathan to make out. He tightened his grasp on his father's hand as he shook his head.

"Don't say that," Nathan said. The tears were falling out of his eyes. "Dad, please." He breathed in softly.

"Goodbye," Dan whispered. Then his eyes went blank and his head rolled to the side of the pillow.

"Dad!" Lucas and Nathan both screamed. Then the line went flat and the doctor pronounced the time of death. Haley walked further into the room. She put her hand on Nathan's shoulder. Nathan turned around and pulled her close to him. He wrapped her in a hug so tight, it was almost as if they were connected. He buried his head in her shoulder and sobbed.

"He's gone, Hales," he whispered inbetween sobs. Haley tightened her arms around him. She leaned down and kissed his forehead. He pulled back and Haley's heart broke for him as she saw the crushed expression on his face. "He's not coming back."

"Oh, Nathan," she said and cupped his face inbetween her hands. "I know it doesn't seem like it right now, but you're going to get past this." Nathan shook his head.

"I don't know how I'll ever," he started to say but Haley just wiped some his tears away from his eyes and looked at him seriously.

"You will. I'll help you," she said. He kissed her hand and nodded.

"I don't know what I'd do without you," he said.

"Well, I'm here for you. I'll always be here," she promised. He nodded and pulled her closer.

Five days later…

"Have you told him yet?" Peyton asked.

"Told me what?" Nathan interrupted them. Haley looked over at him. She could see anger in his blue eyes.

"Nathan, how long have you been standing there?" Haley asked, ignoring his question.

"I just walked in. What do you need to tell me?" he aksed. Haley froze and looked at Peyton.

"I'm going to go," Peyton said, getting up from the table and walking away, but noticed Brooke, Lucas, Deb, Karen, Jake and Keith all standing in the hal way outside the room.

Nathan walked over and looked at Haley. He held her gaze but she looked away. "What's going on?" he asked.

"We can talk about this later, Nathan," Haley said. Nathan slammed his fists on the table.

"No, we're going to talk about it now, Haley. You've been acting strange for a while now and you're starting to scare me. Now, what is going on?" Nathan asked. Haley took a deep breath. "I don't believe it." Haley wrinkled her nose at him in confusion.

"What?" she asked.

"You're leaving again, aren't you?" Nathan asked. Haley was speechless. Nathan choked back a sob. "I don't believe this. You are, aren't you? Why? After everything that we've been, you're just going to disappear again. Why does everyone always leave? First my dad and now you… again."

Haley got up and walked over to him. He turned away from her, refusing to look at her. Haley walked around to the other side. She grabbed his face in her hands. He finally looked looked up at her. Haley's eyes watered at the pain in his. She shook her head at him.

"I'm not leaving you, Nathan," she said. His face remained unmoved.

"You're not?" he asked. Haley smiled and shook her head. Relief washed over Nathan's face. "Then, what's going on?" Haley bit her lip.

"I wanted to wait to tell you this but since you have such a paranoid, not to mention overactive, imagination, I guess I should tell you now," Haley said.

"Tell me what?" he asked. Haley smiled and kissed him.

"I'm afraid I'm going to be acting strange for the next nine months," Haley said. Nathan's brow furrowed.

"Why on earth would you choose to act strange for nine whole months?" he asked. Then he caught the amusement in her eyes and glared at her in annoyance. "Haley, this is not the time for one of your weird jokes." Her smile widened.

"This isn't a joke, Nate," Haley said.

"Then, what would you call it?" Nathan asked.

"Figure it out," she said. He looked at her in confusion. His face held a thoughtful expression for a few seconds and then it returned to confused. "I'm pregnant, you idiot." Nathan's eyes brightened and his smiled widened as he leaned down, pulled her all the way against him and kissed her hungrily.

_/I'm going to be a Dad_/

/If I had known Nathan was going to act so paranoid, I would've told him much sooner. I'll never forget the look on his face when he processed the information. I don't think I've ever seen him so happy/

"Yippee!" Brooke exclaimed from outside the hall. Nathan broke the kiss and looked at Haley in confusion. Haley's eyes were narrowed in confusion. Then they turned over to look in the doorway and Brooke came bouncing in. She walked over and hugged Haley.

"How long have you guys beeen standing there?" Nathan demanded as the others walked in and congratulated them.

"Congratulations, tutor girl and tutor boy!" Brooke said. Then she leaned down to Haley's stomach. "Can't wait to meet you tutor baby." They all cracked up.

The End


End file.
